Today’s prompt from Long and Short Reviews is “Do you believe in karma?”

Not to sound like a medieval theologian, but sic et non.   I don’t believe in Karma as a metaphysical force that responds to our behavior and creates consequences for us, like some disembodied deity.  I do believe, however, that actions beget consequences:  if we drink immoderately, we will suffer consequences like hangovers, physical accidents, and liver disease;    if we cannot control our emotions or desires, we will create trouble for ourselves and others. If we are quick to anger, we will get in fights or suffer high blood pressure;  if we are gluttonous or use food as emotional support,  we will be prone to suffering obesity, diabetes, or metabolic syndrome; and if we are sexually profligate, we’ll be prone to bonding problems and STDs.   If we persist in bad patterns of thinking — fixating on our woes, our limitations — we can dig ourselves into emotional holes, while focusing what we can change and taking action on it, even the littliest of things, can help us escape such a cyle. Our behavior often prompts the way people respond to us: someone who is outgoing and cheerful will generally be received well, someone who is cold and hostile will be greeted with the same.    This is a generality, not a universality:   a good person can be readily taken advantage of by a con-artist, and the same con-artists can put a perfect act of warmth and benevolence while being inwardly cruel.  Personally, I was extremely socially avoidant in high school, but fortunately a few people looked past that and engaged with me anyway, a prime example of the fact that we sometimes get more than we deserve thanks to sheer human goodness.