Why bad things happen to good people. 

Upon seeing an unscrupulous person experience misfortune, most of us would probably not consider it unfair. But it does seem unfair when someone who does everything we know to be right undergoes one misfortune after another.

What happened to cause and effect?

Well, nothing.

We’ve just seen a sliver of the person’s actions in one lifetime; we have no idea how he behaved in others. He, and each of us, undergoes the just consequences incurred through past misdeeds. So his current misfortune is fair.

But wait.

What we also don’t know is what would have happened if he hadn’t been so good in his present lifetime. Very possibly his difficulties would have proved far more severe: perhaps death or impoverishment instead of his broken leg or financial setback. Due to current selfless and ethical behavior, the severity of destined hardships will lessen as karmic retributions ease.

Instead of being frustrated 

when things fail to go according to plan, 

appreciate those rare times when they do. 

One would think that having reached “the age of majority” (i.e., grown up), we’d have gotten used to the reality that very few things work out as we expected, or just wistfully hoped.

Perhaps conditions shifted.

Perhaps others had their own plans changed, and that affected ours.

Whatever the reason, most days unfold as a series of unplanned for happenings requiring us to adjust what we’re doing or planned to do. As the day wears on and our energy wanes, we might recall and relive our frustration. And so, too much of our day is wasted on unhappy thoughts.

If we could just appreciate the times when things work out as hoped for, or just came close, we’d be in a much better frame of mind, able to handle what comes at us.

Able to improve in our practice of not being a slave to our mind, but its master.

Do not steal. 

This second of the Five Basic Precepts and the Ten Virtuous Karmas is often regarded as not taking another’s property. We might well wonder at the prominent placement of this precept.

How many of us would steal others’ possessions?

But we’re not just talking about things here. Buddhism regards stealing as taking anything without permission. What is taken can include someone’s time, their peace of mind, their feeling of security, happiness. Stealing is taking advantage of another person, taking things from work, shouting at a child, avoiding paying taxes, bringing home a shell from a public beach, not letting someone in line while driving, not completing work on time and making others have to work harder to meet a deadline.

The list is endless.

The solution simple.

Not easy! Simple.

Approach all actions with respect and humility, and every being as a future Buddha.