To improve our karma we must improve our character. "Little by little a person becomes good, as a water pot is filled by drops of water" says the Buddha. We shift the balance from dark, unhealthy, un-evolved or obsessive towards light, good, healthy and refined thoughts and actions. A being who has done this through many lifetimes is sometimes called an 'old soul'. The aim of the journey through lifetimes is freedom from all karma. A younger soul has not yet understood that he or she is planting seeds and will one day reap their harvest. One is governed by the laws of karma whether or not one understands them.