Well, I've never been a big God person; something I don't often freely admit here in the Bible Belt. In fact, I'm really on the fence about any sort of higher power at all. Religion makes me uncomfortable, which tells me it's not a good "fit" for me. As a child, I attended Sunday school in a Lutheran church, and then I was baptized at the age of 12 (a horrible experience) in a Presbyterian church. But I remember being skeptical since day one regarding the religious stories I was told about Adam and Eve eating the forbidden fruit, Moses parting the Red Sea, and Noah loading the ark. They were good, entertaining tales, but I always thought of them as fiction rather than reality.
What really stuck with me from Sunday school was the lesson about the Golden Rule: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." This was also a principle reinforced and modeled at home by my parents. I think the idea of karma is an extension of the Golden Rule. Karma is a cause and effect cycle, where all of my thoughts, words and deeds affect my reality and reflect back on me. I receive what I give, and I am in control of creating my own destiny. I like that idea.
Karma is fluid; I can change my karma by changing my thoughts, attitude, and behavior. This is the opposite of luck, which presumes that what happens to me is random and uncontrollable. It's also the opposite of both fate and destiny, which assume that everything that happens to me is predetermined. For me, fate is a horrible notion which leaves me feeling trapped and confined.
I think there's something to be said for trusting my gut as well. It's a natural sixth sense that can help in making better decisions, sizing up other people, and assessing motives. I can think of many times when my gut instinct, in retrospect, turned out to be correct.
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