So my life tends to play itself out in different eras, and every era, some new people come into the picture, some leave, and some people from previous eras take on different roles. Sometimes someone from two or three eras back will return.

Two eras ago (2 years ago), I was in a liberal arts college in Idaho and being very creative and being myself. I was running a recording studio. My sister was going to college in Oregon at the time, and was feeling pressure to study hard science in order to get a well-paying job.

She was also having a hard time with room-mates, almost got killed by some armed robbers, etc. Anyway, I helped her make some good decisions like finding better people to hang out with. Most importantly, I told her to follow her dream and ditch her science degree to study fashion design, and that she shouldn't worry what other people thought.

She took my advice (I completely changed her life path), got a degree in fashion design, became a model and now designs clothes for steampunk and fantasy scenes. She is a very amazing person, not shallow whatsoever, and a top student, and very good socially as well.

At any rate, I just moved back to Idaho and suddenly this super-dense aura of darkness and suppression is everywhere. I feel a lot of pressure to conform, and to not follow my dreams.

Guess who I called to get advice from tonight? My sister. See how this works?

Yeah, That is basically how Karma works. You sometimes do a good deed and somewhere down the track your good deed will be repayed. Although it also works the other way.
The other thing that is important is dont go out doing good deeds and expect good to befall you, you dont do good for the sake of improving your own good luck as that would be a selfish and negative reason.
In your case you helped your sister which is what family does and now she can help you out, again thats what family does.
In some ways I guess that is cause and effect - Karma.

I am happy for you, darkblade. And I don't want to be a d**k, but karma is just s**t that people invented to explain certain unknowns. You have a good sister, unlike me. That's all there is to it.