How to Get Good Karma
Patty Triplett (Com ’92), Heather Blasch (Col ’91) and Steve Triplett (Com ’89) created Good Karmal, a candy company with a mission to sweeten the world. Good Karmal wraps all-natural caramel in quotations meant to inspire acts of kindness.
Do good and good things will happen
Sanskrit for “action,” karma is the cycle of cause and effect, the manifestation of our own reality through our thoughts and deeds. Simply put, what we do determines what will happen to us. While there are many ways of generating good karma—you could chant or meditate—we are inspired by the Hindu proverb “Help your brother’s boat across, and your own will reach the shore.” When you act with kindness and selfless intent, you plant the seeds and create the space for happiness to grow.
Be the change
Emphasizing the extraordinary power of individual action, Gandhi said, “We must be the change we wish to see in the world.” By choosing to take positive action and being mindful of our words, thoughts and deeds, we can create good karma. Do something for someone else with no expectation of reward. Make a difference in whatever cause is close to your heart. It needn’t be grand; the action isn’t as important as the thought behind it. Shift out of neutral, ignore the cynics and know that everything we do matters.
Remember that the little things are big
Maya Angelou once reflected, “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” We have so many encounters every day. It’s amazing how small, unexpected acts can make a difference: a simple hug, a phone call out of the blue, sharing an umbrella with a rain-soaked stranger or waving a fellow driver into your lane. Be patient with yourself and others and strive to make a conscious choice. Before you react, remember that what you think and do will follow you. The ripple effect of these interactions is exponential.
Be here now
It’s easy to get caught up in the activities and distractions of daily life; it takes focus to slow down and inhabit the moment. So toss the to-do list and make a commitment to be present. Engage with those around you and create beauty every chance you get, for as Joseph Joubert advised, “Poetry is to be found nowhere unless we carry it within us.” Be compassionate, be the unexpected, and above all, inspire one another as you ask yourself, “How am I going to live this day?”
Comments
I would like to discuss the assertion made above, specifically that substantive review is a prerequisite to successful preparation for standardized exams. In my estimation, and I should say in large part due to my personal history in preparing for an exam that is highly substantive in nature (the GMAT exam, which is required for admission to business school), I did not feel that I need a great deal of substantive review. On the contrary, I found that I needed to focus almost entirely on the strategic aspects of the exam. For example, in the data sufficiency section, which is without question the most challenging portion of the GMAT exam, strategies are far more important than substantive knowledge.
As a UVA grad myself, I get this magazine in the mail. I was studying for the GMAT exam and saw the ad and contacted Jefferson Prep. To be honest, they have by far the worst customer service I've ever received. Richard, their "president/owner" or whatever title he likes to attach to his name is simply rude. He does not understand what it means to provide someone with a remote sense of customer service. But besides Richard himself, here are my comments after I actually signed up and paid for the course. Its a scam. They have nice people picking up the phone and luring you into signing up, but the tutors are simply "study-buddies". The tutor was a great person, but simply not a great tutor by any standard of imagination. The tutor was not familiar with the updated versions of the exam and they try to teach you things that are outdated. It got to the point where my time was better spent studying by myself rather than wasting with the tutor, and that gets pricey. On top of that, their "corporate office", if you can call the three guys that work in their office that answer the phones, are complete jerks. When they want your money, they are great. As soon as they get the money, and you need some sort of assistance, they refuse to speak with you, and ask you to email them all the complaints, and hang up the phone. I have contacted Better Business Bureau to suspend this company, along with contacting UVA and asking them to never advertise this company. Please save your money. Spend it for great tutors, and there are great tutors out there, but they simply dont work for this company.
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