What is Karma really?

In the west the idea of karma gets confused with the old testament idea of an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.

This an overly simplistic explanation and of course is moulded from an ingrained concept recognised in the Christian cultures. 

It is true that every action has a result but karma is not as simple as "do something bad and something bad happens to you."

Every action causes a reaction but most of the time we are unaware of how or why this happens.

The Freedom Monkey view is that there are three types of karma.

Ancestral 

Societal and

Personal.

To understand, for example, that something we are experiencing is the result of a relative from several generations back takes much work and diligence. 

This is where family constellation, shamanism or a good psychic are helpful. 

Societal karma is mostly forced upon us in that we act in ways our family and surroundings tell us to. Thus we aquire karma that is not really ours once more. 

Individual karma which is what most people think they understand as all karma is a result of choices made in response to the first two. 

If we don't understand this and the role of trauma in our actions then we will not get far in the quest to burn our karmic footprint. 

Our actions are nearly always automatic and without awareness thus, self investigation is paramount in freeing ourselves from our karmic chains.

If things we don't want are happening again and again and we can't explain why, then karmic work is almost certainly the answer.