To be shocked how many of you believe in karma?

[Fanfeckintastic]

Do you really or do you just say things like "what goes around comes around" and talk of karma as a turn of phrase?

I'd like to think people are kind naturally and not because they're frightened of karma?

If you do really believe, then why? Is it not like believing in magic or something? For what it's worth I do think it's a nice thought and I wish it existed!

Disclaimer I'm not a Buddhist but have had some enlightening - boom boom - conversations with some.

I just wish I could go back.
I look at photos of ds when he was a baby and wish I could rewind and try again and do it differently. I can't help feeling it's my fault that we can't have any more children.

I'm so sorry you are struggling too. X x

Ok my experience two days ago.

Had difficult patient who made one of the hard working receptionists life hell the other day but shouting down the phone and saying coming at x time and that was that or would spread rumours about us and how awful we were. . Receptionist too frightened after 10 minutes of being shouted at to tell her that we had a full list and someone already booked in for x time. I can't treat two people at same time so we moved person behind x time as could contact x time patient.

X time that day arrived. Original patient turned up was offered coffee, tea and biscuits and new time. (Her mob not working before). She sweet and lovely person so agreed to rearranged time 20 minutes later. The difficult one arrived 5 minutes late yelling about a lorry driver blocking her in and the fact that this rude man told her to take a chill pill. She spent all treatment telling me how much she hated rude people. I listened and smiled. What comes around goes around. She was off to complain re lorry driver so if you reading this lorry driver thank you x

YANBU. Everything has a consequence somewhere and being nice to others makes the world a better place but lots of mumsnetters do seem to talk about karma as people getting their "just desserts" which is just bollocks.

It's NOT your fault though sleeps! Not in the slightest. My mother died when DD was just a few days old and I went from earth mother of the year to just not really giving a shit and letting her dad take over absolutely everything. I could dwell on that, it lasted about six months and probably another six months until I felt the confidence in being a parent. But now we have the best relationship you can imagine, so her first six months we didn't "bond", I still loved her, thought she was beautiful, wanted only the best for her etc I just quite frankly couldn't sometimes physically get out of bed and when I finally wanted to I had no idea what to do. In the grand scheme of things it's a tiny blip that she's unaware of and has really taught me not only if I ever do have another child, to try my best to cherish those moments and have more confidence in myself, but more importantly to cherish the here and now with my wonderful DD!

You did nothing wrong and it's things like this that make me hate the karma notion all the more x x

Oh gosh the baby days are tough for everyone. As much as we adore our doc it is a massive shock to being relatively free to going back to the 1950s and being a domestic drudge. Sod all to do with karma.

Fwiw I am a big bhuddist fan and have been thinking of converting. I spent a lot of time living with bhuddist communities in Nepal and I love the way they handle their tough, tough lives with such stoicism. I think one thing that the belief that karma has for the soul is that it enables believers to see the bigger picture.

I do think that horrid people get their comeuppance as every one hates them and wants to see them fall: Marie Antoinette and Osama Bin Laden for example.

Far more deranged is the belief in heaven and he'll which IMO is a power trip designed to keep the peasants behaving.

Hell sorry!

Breakingbuddhist,this isn't a wee winkmoment.I've joined in.I surmise it's utter rot
That's not insult.its simply not what you want to hear.i won't pseudo intellectualise rot
Now by all means,no one is obliged to agree wi me.in fact feel free tell me it's utter rot

Of course karma doesn't exist, it's the same as the way, that horrible phrase "What's for you, won't pass you by" gets trotted out when someone fails to get a promotion or whatever. The flip side is, any shit luck, or horrible occurance in your life you totally deserve complete bollocks.

I know what I posted,and I wholeheartedly believe it
Karma for many is usually a feeling,an explanation devoid of fact,sense or corroboration
And no,for karma subscribers it's not a book learning thing,it's a woo spiritual thing

Karma better bloody exist, I have lots of revenge waiting on it.

Lots of people believe in religion.

Whatever gets you through the day really.

I think to suggest you can 'believe in' karma is to really misunderstand what Karma means.

It is basically just part of the understanding of the cycle. Its isn't about punishment and retribution and getting back or getting even or anything like that.

Its a way of describing, rather than a set in stone action.

I'm responding just to the OP as I have actually used the word karma in a post this evening. I use it as a descriptive explanation because I think it's universally understood. I don't use it in any specific religious sense because I don't believe in any specific religion but can understand why some people do (I just wish they wouldn't argue about it or want to hurt anyone because of differences).

What I have found by experience is that -similar to karma - that if you are faced with the option of doing a nice, positive, helpful thing for somebody or something without expecting anything back or of doing nothing at all.... by choosing to do the positive thing somewhere, sometime when you are least expecting it and when you really need it...someone will do a really nice thing for you.

I don't think it applies necessarily in the same way to negative things.

Most people totally misinterpret the meaning of karma. It'd a Buddhist concept and not about just deserts.

I find all your replies really interesting thanks!

breaking, I think the more nuanced definitions are just common sense. You get a feeling of well being by choosing to do the right thing and it will in turn pave the way for you choosing the right way in future.

I'll give an example, DDs dad and his new girlfriend made my life really hard for the past couple of months. Arriving at my door to introduce her to DD, messages from the girlfriend rubbing things in etc etc. I found it really hard to deal with and I got wind that she was moving to our part of the country and had gotten a job in my best friends aunties salon, the first thing my friend said was "do you want me to lose her the job?" although my answer was straight away "no", I can't pretend I didn't fantasize about it a bit. The next time I met ex I completely cleared the air, forgave everything they'd done and told him I hoped they'd be really happy. I messaged her back a really nice message saying the more people my DD has in her life to care about her the better, let's all be grown ups etc!
I was feeling amazing within myself now that I'd let go of all the negative feelings. Then the very next day he found mildly flirty messages on her phone to a friend and broke up with her, leaving her high and dry with a new place and job down here.
Some may say that's pay back for them and it definitely does read that way but I just think all my hate and negativity was holding them together and their battle with me was taking the focus off the issues in their relationship. When I let go of all that and decided to "put some good" out there, what they did started not to matter so much anymore.

That's a bit long winded probably but it makes sense to me! Float I do agree with what you say but I don't believe it's a karmic justice it's just that being kind and good makes it easier for you to see the kindness in others.

Maybe that's true, maybe that's not - and maybe that's why I'm agnostic as opposed to atheist. I'm no naive one who hasn't had bucket loads of shit thrown over them either. I can be quite a stroppy bitch sometimes too and I have been getting increasingly annoyed that it now seems to be the general rule that people are 'too busy to care' instead of 'kindness first'. I have found that 'kindness breeds kindness' and people react well to it - the 'random acts of kindness' thing and most people are nicer than they actually think they are. A physicist or mathematician could probably devise an equation to explain it.

I also believe (through experience too) that revenge is best served cold - because it is.

I can only stress again that what you are all talking about is NOT Karma! We just constantly use it to describe 'what goes around comes around' but that is not what it means.

It is a defining word, not a Doing word. 'Karma' is not a thing that happens to people it is a way of defining things that happen to people.