The Official Website of Michael Corthell

by Michael Corthell    I think that we can all agree that healing is an act of kindness, as well as an act of love. The very first step in healing is to know what needs to be healed. To do that we have to listen and listen deeply, without distraction or any negativity. Deeply listening with kindness and compassion is undoubtedly the most powerful act of human healing and change. Compassion is a virtue that all good human beings have, and it is this virtue that provides the motivation for wanting to heal. In order to heal others, we must first heal ourselves, especially our emotional minds. Those of us who have been self-criticizing for years, need only to stop and start affirming ourselves. People who make that switch from self-negation to self-affirmation are truly transformed human beings, who then, are well on their way to self-enlightenment. Several research studies have shown that when you practice and feel compassion, your heart rate slows down, you

"WE will have peace if WE have the WILL'' by Michael Corthell   The world needs more compassionate people to make our planet a happier and more peaceful place to live during normal times. We are not in a normal time right now, so it is vitally important that we become more compassionate toward everyone and every being. Here are 20 ways we can become more compassionate today. 1. Be selfless. Put yourself in others’ shoes. Place your happiness in the happiness of others. Instead of just thinking and caring for yourself, start caring for others. Break free from selfishness. Compassion is a great journey to go out of yourself and start caring, helping, and making other people happy. Learning how to be selfless is a great start to becoming a more compassionate person. 2. Be humble. Free yourself of pride. Stop feeling superior to others, don’t act like you know everything, admit your own mistakes, and learn to forgive people. If there’s humility in your heart, it woul

“More smiling, less worrying. More compassion, less judgment. More blessed, less stressed. More love, less hate.” ― Roy T. Bennett It's all connected. You are a manifestation of the One or the source of all there is. That is why compassion is Holy.   “If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.” ―  Mother Teresa

  “The best sleeping pill is a clear conscience.” ― Dada J. P. Vaswani I am a vegan with a clear conscience, I sleep peacefully every night. “I nod in the darkness. He embraces me and before long he's fast asleep, a man with clear conscience and an open heart. I stay awake, listening to his breath and thinking of the webs we weave.” ― Lizbeth Gabriel, The Theater Of Dusk

“People die from lack of shared empathy and affinity. By establishing social connectedness, we give hope a chance and the other can become heaven. ( "Le ciel c'est l'autre" )” ― Erik Pevernagie JUST how difficult is it for one person to feel the injustice directed at another?

Be a Lamp “There is a LIGHT in this world. A healing spirit more powerful than any darkness we may encounter. We sometime lose sight of this force when there is suffering, and too much pain. Then suddenly, the spirit will emerge through the lives of ordinary people who hear a call and answer in extraordinary ways.” ― Richard Attenborough There is an ancient tribal proverb from India. It says, ''Before we can see properly we must first shed our tears to clear the way.''

  ''And if one member suffers, all the parts share the suffering;  if one member is honored, all rejoice with it.'' 1 Corinthians 12:26 Let me practice kindness, let me practice compassion, let me be joyful, and let me sing a song of love. Let me change one life, let me change the world. “A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.” ― Albert Einstein

Love, all there is, because love is, all there is. (Isn't that so pilgrim?) There are a lot of counter-intuitive things in life, things like, 'the meek shall inherit the Earth,' and a soft heart is a strong heart, and a hard heart is a weak heart. Yeah, things like that. “God whispered, "You endured a lot. For that I am truly sorry, but grateful. I needed you to struggle to help so many. Through that process you would grow into who you have now become. Didn't you know that I gave all my struggles to my favorite children? One only needs to look at the struggles given to your older brother Jesus to know how important you have been to me.” ―  Shannon L. Alder

“Love only grows by sharing. You can only have more for yourself by giving it away to others.” ― Brian Tracy Loving all creatures is the greatest gift we can give ourselves. Altruism is an act that rewards itself. “We have so far to go to realize our human potential for compassion, altruism, and love.” ― Jane Goodall, Harvest for Hope: A Guide to Mindful Eating

 People spend a lot of time and energy fighting the devil. If they spent the same amount of effort loving their fellow men by being kind, evil would die of neglect. 

“What I want is so simple I almost can't say it: elementary kindness.” ― Barbara Kingsolver Do you know what people really want? They want just one person they can talk to, a person who can really understand them and the person they are―who would be kind to them. That's what people really want, (if they honestly look deeply inside themselves). “When we treat people merely as they are, they will remain as they are. When we treat them as if they were what they should be, they will become what they should be.” ― Thomas S. Monson

“Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries.  Without them humanity cannot survive.” ― Dalai Lama Compassion can be painful but it doesn't have to be. Many of us hurt because when we feel connected to everything, we also feel responsible for everything. And we cannot turn away from injustice. Our destinies is bound up with the destinies of others. We must either learn to embrace the Universe as One(holy) or be burdened by it. Each of us needs to grow strong enough to love the All, but also be 'empty' enough to withstand its worst horrors. “If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.” ― Mother Teresa

 

A person who has a 'why' to live for can endure almost any 'how '. “The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson Be Good, Do Good Be a Life Boat to save a drowning soul. Be a Ladder to lift someone up. Be a Light so others do not stumble. ― Michael Corthell

Bring to the suffering person your holy silence, and just listen. Why deep listening? Listening deeply by being completely focused on what a person is telling you establishes a presence -- a presence not only of mind but of spirit. In the healing process two spirits are better than one. Bottom-line. By listening carefully, purposefully, that is deeply when someone speaks we're telling them that we care about them. That's empathy. That's love. There is no mystery as to why deep listening works. Love heals...  — Solomon And as is almost always the case when we do the right things, we get something good back. Your deep listening is contagious. When we listen to others they will be much more inclined to listen to us!