Have you ever wondered why some souls seem to choose an unusually difficult journey?
As though, from the very beginning, their path was never meant to be easy.
They lose people they deeply love.
They experience betrayal from those they trusted with their heart.
They are abandoned, disappointed, used and misunderstood.
And sometimes, even while surrounded by people,
they walk an incredibly lonely path.
And yet…
Every morning, they rise.
They show up for life.
They work.
They build.
They care.
They reach out to those who are suffering.
They give to people who may never be able to give anything back.
And perhaps the most beautiful part of their journey is this:
After everything life has taken from them,
they still believe in goodness.
They still choose kindness.
They still choose compassion.
They still want to give to the world
in ways the world may never have given to them.
Why?
Perhaps the answer does not begin with this lifetime.
Perhaps it begins with the journey of the soul itself.
In the ancient understanding of karma, there are three kinds of karma:
Sanchita Karma — the vast reservoir of karma accumulated by the soul through its many incarnations.
Prarabdha Karma — the portion of that karmic reservoir the soul carries into the present incarnation to experience, resolve and transcend.
Agami or Kriyamana Karma — the karma being created in the present moment through our choices, intentions and actions.
And perhaps this is where the deeper meaning of a difficult incarnation reveals itself.
Some souls may come into this lifetime carrying intense Prarabdha. Not because they are being punished.
But because the soul is ready and willing to grow.
Ready to complete unfinished karmic cycles.
Ready to balance old accounts.
Ready to learn what can only be understood through experience.
Ready to evolve.
The human being may not remember choosing the path.
But perhaps the soul remembers.
And while we may not always be able to choose what arrives at our door,
we can choose what we become because of it.
Pain can become compassion.
Loss can become wisdom.
Betrayal can become discernment.
Loneliness can become inner strength.
And suffering can awaken within us
a profound understanding of the suffering of others.
Perhaps that is why some of the people who have received the least from life
feel the deepest desire to give.
They help.
They serve.
They uplift.
They protect.
They reach for those who are struggling because somewhere within their soul,
they recognise that pain.
And while they are living through their Prarabdha Karma, their compassion, service and generosity are simultaneously creating their Agami Karma.
They are not merely clearing the past.
They are consciously creating the future.
Every act of kindness becomes a seed.
Every person they help becomes part of their soul’s journey and karmic clearances.
Every moment in which they could have chosen bitterness but chose compassion instead becomes an act of spiritual evolution.
Perhaps that is the deeper purpose of some difficult lives.
Not punishment.
Transformation.
To complete old karmic accounts while creating new ones.
To turn wounds into wisdom.
To turn suffering into service.
To turn darkness into light.
To learn through loss.
To grow through betrayal.
To love despite disappointment.
To give despite receiving so little.
A difficult life is the choice of a brave soul.
Some souls don’t evolve despite their struggles.
They evolve through them.
~ Priyanka
Inner Journeys 