As souls, when we “plan” our life lessons for the following incarnation, we will usually have one dominant theme that we plan on learning. We also might have other smaller themes as well.

In the most simplistic sense, whatever it is that we are exploring, we’ll find that we incarnate in the absence of that very thing. That is how we find it.

For example, someone who has chosen to explore “Faith” might incarnate into a community or family that has very little of it. “Hope” might express similarly.

As souls, we often choose the harder path because that’s what we see as opportunity for learning. Most times, if we choose harder lives we ascend faster. That’s why older souls might elect for lives that are filled with poverty and hardship. From a human lens, what we see as “undesirable” in terms of lives, is actually the path of wealth to a soul. Materiality means very little to the soul, because that’s the only impermanence.

From a human lens, it might seem more logical to say, well if I’m exploring a theme of power then shouldn’t I be given a life where I have substantial power? I think it’s a very human ego thing to want things to be given instead of earning, as per the soul. For example, I remember once reading someone’s account of prayer/asking for the universe. She said, be careful what you ask for because it might be given in a way that you didn’t foresee- her example was, she asked for strength, and she then got very tumultuous events in her life and she didn’t understand why. Upon reflection, she realized that when she asked for strength, the universe gave her the very obstacles to cultivate her own.

The adage that we get only what we can handle holds true- older souls get more difficult challenges because through those we expand. If we wanted a cushy life, we’d reap very little benefit from it on a spiritual level, even if our human incarnation in that life is satisfied. Souls do find that human lives are perhaps the most challenging because there’s so much duality. For human egos/minds, duality is a difficult concept- for all the light in the world, there is also so much darkness. It is also true that for your first few lives, especially the first one, “they” and they refers to the specific kind of guide that works with you between lives called “elders” will give you lives that are like training wheels- so many children of celebrities who have substantial means and very little hardship are typically first timers. But from there, resources lessen, or, if you get a very materially wealthy and high status life, you may be fraught with other more difficult challenges. Royalty, for example, is usually not a place where new souls enter because there are many difficult dynamics that most people have very little preparation for.

As you get to the end of your lives, most “last timers” will get a wish fulfillment life wherein the first part is focused on karmic clearing, tying up loose ends which is rife with challenges, but upon completion the rest of the life operates as a reward, but is also fulfilling a spiritual mission. An example would be someone like JK Rowling who I can sense on the soul level is on her last life. Some souls that have completed all of their lives might even choose to come back as a “volunteer” soul to usher in change- someone who I sense is doing this is Angelina Jolie- she’s in essence, working as a benefactor to the world and needs an exceptional platform to do so.

How do we know when something is happening FOR us and not TO us?

In understanding how karma works, you have to understand its main purpose: balance. Even if you don’t believe there’s such thing as karma, you must know that there are physics that are involved like the 3rd law of motion: for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction

So if we just analyze what’s happening in this life presently and not past lives- it works like this: for every thing we do, we are either exerting positive energy/intentions, or exerting negative energy/intentions. Neutral ones don’t apply because there isn’t necessarily a charge, and we can also assume that in a neutral reaction there’s good and bad so the equality is already taken care of within the action itself and does not engender a reaction. Karma isn’t a tit for tat because the energy is affected by its accumulation of force as well as the energy it’s pushing against- will break this down later.

Say a person does something harmful to someone else. It could go either of two ways: maybe they didn’t mean to cause as much damage as they do upon the other person, but they already knew that they were doing something bad. This would release a karmic effect but what we don’t know is when the ricochet effect will take place. Sometimes it’s instant, sometimes it takes decades or even lifetimes. Say this person does something bad and knows, and even intends, to cause harm to another person. Then the amount of intention/energy that’s exerted is far more than the first case and so the ricochet effect will be more intense. However, it can sometimes get carried into the next life, or other ones, in case there’s a karmic contract involved between these two parties which will carry over as karmic debt (and in some cases, this action might even be the cause of the contract to start). Or, sometimes the perpetrator is working on a spiritual lesson in this life that necessitates the karma be returned in this life, then the timeline does matter. When spiritual people tell you there’s no such thing as linear time in the spiritual world, that concept is true in part, but there are specific axis of linear time that is dealt with even in the spiritual sense.

What also impacts this is if someone knows better. For example, if a little kid did harm, it might be innocent because they don’t yet have the awareness to know its cause and effect. That tones down the intention portion of the equation so the negative energy they’re exerting isn’t as strong, therefore their rebound effect also isn’t as strong. Sometimes people who don’t know any better, especially children, will get a “pass” that they’ll never have to “pay” for karmically. But, say you’re very well aware- the level of awareness you have will also strengthen the intention, which strengthens the rebound effect.

Additionally, the charge of the energy that the original action is pushing against will either decelerate or accelerate the rebound effect.

An example: someone does something harmful to a being who has a lot of light in their field- their light acts as a refraction and not only reflects the karma back more intensely, but also can accelerate the karmic rebound. Think about the effect of shining a light directly at a prism- the light is reflected back in different wavelengths, and often times can be even more blinding than the light itself. Basically you’re forced to see the elements of this light broken down—- i.e. you’re forced to experience the rebounded action frame by frame. The light in their field may also push against the negative intention because by nature a person who’s anchored in light already radiates positive intentions, so there’s a energetic reaction taking place much like chemistry- two polarities come together to create a karmic reaction.

There’s also the possibility that someone does something harmful to someone who has harmed a lot of people- i.e. a bounty hunter kills someone who’s done terrible things to people and plans on continuing. In this case, although the murder itself is naturally charged with destructive intentions, there is a positive effect to this as it’s stopping a worse perpetrator and that will neutralize some of the negative karmic effect of the action. Not to mention, there isn’t light in the energy field that pushes back if we assume that this person is very dark triad.

So that brings me to the question of- sometimes when something “bad” happens to someone, is that their karma returning? Or is that simply a challenge they signed up for in this life time?

When there’s negative karma returning, there’s no “lesson”. Instead, it feels like something must be paid, acknowledged or seen. If you tune in to the energy only, it feels dark, cloudy.

When it’s an event that seems negative but isn’t karma, but is karmic in the sense that you’re meant to experience this to grow, you, if you’re tuned into things beyond the veil will sense there’s a lot of guidance around you and the energy feels light. You’ll get a sense that this is positive and spiritual in origin and it’s rife with lessons, and more importantly, there is a way out.

For example, clients will sometimes have me read a loved one who is ill. Although the disease expresses the same, the energy around it is either light and infused with spirituality or it’s dark and very low vibrational.

If it’s a karmic debt, you’ll find that the attachment to a particular person or situation feels unresolved, or to me, “sticky”. But once you resolve the situation by “paying” the debt in whatever form, all of a sudden that attachment is no longer and you feel that the person and situation is no longer tied. You may never revisit the situation again, or never hear from or see the other person ever again.

This is a topic that wouldn’t be able to be fully covered in several books, but here’s a intermediate primer for now.