Karma Experiment

Ok. Last week when I asked the universe to surprise me, it pretty much gave me the finger. So my sister Lynne said that we should both throw some good karma into the mix and see if the universe decided to sweeten up a bit.

Here's what I did:

1. I secretly dropped off a beautiful tomato plant at the house of a friend who is having a hard time.

2. I showed kindness to my well-intentioned self by

Image by esthereggy via Flickr

skipping out to see "The Hangover" with my IT department Paula Johnson.

3. I bought my family macaroons at Europane Bakery.

4. I told my beloved offspring that as long as she truly believed she had done her best, a C in English should be worn with pride.

Ok. Looking at this list now, it seems like I've been a little self serving in my universal good karma distribution system. I did get to see a movie. I did get a macaroon. But let's focus on the secret tomato-gifting -- as pure an act of altruism as you will find.

Now what about the universe? Has it held up its part of the bargain? Has it returned good intentions with good intentions? Hmmm. It's hard to say. I did hear one of my 10-year-old Girl Scouts say that her greatest fear was that someone she loved would get sick and die. That surprised me. That's a whole lot of weight for a ten-year-old to carry, but it's also a whole lot of wisdom. I saw an enormous dog with Christopher Walken eyes stick its head out the back of an SUV; I swear that dog smiled at me. And I did win a fabulous prize over at Pasadena Daily Photo.

Here's what I learned: Asking the universe to surprise you is really about asking yourself to be more observant and present in your own life. Alas, being observant means opening yourself to observing some ugly things, but those ugly things are part of life. When we witness them, we are reminded that the universe is not all about us. We are reminded that our personal pain is not so very unique, and it doesn't just belong to us. It belongs to humanity. It's all about compassion, baby. Ommm to that.

Here's the other thing. It is very hard to be observant and present in your own life. I think I managed it for three days. After that I just fell back into my bubble and switched to autopilot. Then I didn't notice much in the way of universal surprises. I just stayed on course, took no detours, made no discoveries.

So...which is better: the teeter-totter pain and joys of the observant life or the routine but familiar life of the autopiloted path? What do you think? And if you choose the observant life, how do you sustain it?