I remember in my early youth, asking an adult friend if the ego was a good or bad thing. She said I could ask her (hippy) husband because he enjoyed discussing things like that. What was then for me an impenetrably thick, peanutbutter-like layer of confusion over all things inner and intangible, later became, with the help of a subtle internal connection and some enlightening meditation, as clear as day to my once thick and sticky perception. My thirst for Truth has not diminished, but the obvious is no longer hidden from my understanding.
Take karma for example. It’s no longer a mystery whether or not past deeds and desires can influence our present life. Our psyche/conditionings/subconscious contains enough past goo to keep us repeating lots of wanted and unwanted patterns (even looking through the lens of astrology or genetic mutation, one can see that some influence stretches way back into our personal histories). The real question is, can we somehow be liberated from undesirable karma. The answer is a resounding inner YES. As physics sometimes hints at, we effect what we perceive, just by perceiving it. We live in an inevitable cycle of cause and effect. If there was only a way to rise above cause and escape the trampoline of life’s ups and downs. Well, there is …
It’s been discovered (and I’m also speaking from personal experience) that by raising the limited human awareness to a higher, thoughtless level, not only does physical health improve, but so does one’s good fortune. Although this is a golden, natural law – and easily attained – it is still proving awkward to maintain. That is to say, as human beings at a certain stage of our spiritual evolution, all the goodies of a complete and fulfilling life are becoming available to us, but we’re still quite rusty at getting all that extra 
potential in us to light up. And that is to very simply say, that all the dogma and ritual and prayers and good wishes will not do any more than they have till now (very little on the whole) unless and until we are in that very clear, tangible and powerful state, the result of self-realization and meditation: thoughtless awareness. It takes very little regular practice to get the hang of it – then one notices the benefits (individual and collective) steadily increase.
(Sorry ego and conditionings, it’s been fun, but – hey – after all, we’ve just been fooling around, warming up for the super life 😉 )
Self-Help 
Absolutely. With thoughtless awareness comes auspiciousness. Instead of always working against the cosmic flow, the Tao, you work with it and you become its instrument and as the I-Ching says, such conditions bring good fortune. Being at the right place at the right time, meeting the right people, where positive experiences manifest as opposed to the negative. That is not to say that life is always easy but the so called difficult experiences lead to spiritual growth as opposed to just being the repercussions of the karmic goo you talk about.