Have you ever noticed that certain situations in life seem to repeat themselves? Not exactly the same way each time. The people may change and the circumstances may look different, but the feeling inside your body is strangely familiar. The same tightening in your chest, the same sense of being misunderstood, the same urge to explain yourself or withdraw. At some point a quiet question often appears: why does this keep happening?
Many people interpret these moments as signs that they are doing something wrong or that life is somehow working against them. But when we look at life through the lens of karma, something very different begins to appear. Life isn’t repeating events. Life is revealing patterns. Karma is often misunderstood as punishment or reward, but in a deeper sense karma is memory. Not memory in the mind alone, but memory in the nervous system, in the body, and in the subtle energetic patterns that shape how we respond to life.
When something emotionally significant happens, the body learns from it. The nervous system records the experience and develops strategies for responding to similar situations in the future. This is actually a beautiful design because it allows us to learn and protect ourselves. But sometimes those strategies remain long after the original situation has passed.
This essay continues on Amy's Substack, The Field.
Continue reading on Substack →