The Official Website of Michael Corthell

  by Michael Corthell There are two primary ways of trying to live a good life. The first is living a life of Faith, that is believing in God and the other is living without belief in God. A secondary to this is, of course, being agnostic, which is still living without Faith—by not being committed to the Creator. ''The good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge.'' —Bertrand Russell Our relationship to the world is colored by whether or not we think there is a creative purpose for our lives. Looking past the theological belief how can we a achieve a good life in a practical, step by step way? Life Plan What do you value most? List all the people and things that you value. Prioritize your list. Take a good amount of time thinking about the things without which you couldn't live without. Determine your moral compass. What are your core values? Freedom, justice, altruism? Kindness, courage? Determine your moral code and ethics.

by Michael Corthell Regret hurts, right? It's a feeling like homesickness, a feeling of what might have been. If only I had_________.  But understand this; regret is a good thing. Why? It is a pointed and profound learning experience. Handled correctly we grow and become better, more well-rounded human beings. It has everything to do with acceptance. ''Make the most of your regrets; never smother your sorrow, but tend and cherish it till it comes to have a separate and integral interest. To regret deeply is to live afresh.'' — Henry David Thoreau In the short term folks are more likely to regret negative actions and mistakes they've made, but in the long term they are more likely to regret missed opportunities and actions not taken such as not spending enough time with family etc. However, there is much value to be had by being regretful. We make sense of the world. ''I tried this and it didn't work.'' C

“I can and will improve the world. I will smile, show kindness, and be grateful. I refuse to be unhappy.” ― Richelle E. Goodrich, Making Wishes: Quotes, Thoughts, & a Little Poetry for Every Day of the Year Thoughts Do Become Things...  Choose The Good Ones!

by Michael Corthell In order for the transformation of ideas into things, a certain amount of belief is required – a certain mindset that lets you know in your heart that you can, and will , achieve what you set out to do. There is a difference between wishing for something, and actually being ready to receive it. No one is ready for anything, until he believes he can acquire it. When creating a mindset capable of accomplishing anything, keeping it clear of negativity is the number one task; where negativity exists , fear causes doubt, which will eventually kill all grand ideas as well as any chances of prosperity or happiness. An effective tool to keep fear at bay is to bathe in positive thoughts. Positive thinking doesn't mean that you hide your head in the sand and ignore life's negative situations. Positive thinking means that you approach negative situations in a more positive and productive way. You simply think the best is going to happen, not the worst.

 by Michael Corthell When I speak to people about God and the Christian Bible, I usually pick one precept and talk simply about that one instruction. In my way of thinking simplicity is the key that unlocks understanding. ''Whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.'' —Jesus (God incarnate, aka the Universe) In this teaching, we have Jesus healing a woman who has had uterine disease for twelve years and she can't be cured by any physician. And in another teaching moment with his followers, He tells them and us to ''Have faith in God.'' Faith healing or rightly stated, healing by faith is a one-on-one partnership with God. And I want to make it abundantly clear that I am not referring to faith healers like Oral Roberts who act like the 'middle man'.  The type of healing I'm referring to is the partnership between the believer and God directly with no intermediary.

“Harnessing likability is about uncovering what is authentically likable—in you, in the other person, in your connection.”― Michelle Tillis Lederman, 11 Laws of Likability Likability: The true you is the best you. “Popularity is just a good way of saying a lot of people lie you a little. Not that real people like you a lot.” ― Laura Greenwood, First Time's a Charm

by Michael Corthell ''I've trained myself to illuminate the things in my personality that are likable  and to hide and protect the things that are less likable.'' —Will Smith, American actor Many people believe that being likable and therefore popular comes from natural ability only—unteachable traits that belong only to the fortunate—the beautiful people, the outgoing social type, and those that are highly talented. Not true at all. It helps to have great natural social skills and unique well honed talents, but in reality, being likable is mostly under your control, and it's about having a positive mindset. Below are some of the key behaviors that positive thinkers practice that make them likable and popular with their peers and others: Likable People Ask Questions. When you are in a conversation with someone, ask question and then truly LISTEN. Don't think about what to say next. It is a common mistake. Just slow down and LIS

“When you are in a fix, often the fix is in you.” ― Ashok Kallarakkal Any negative situation requires that we focus on what we can do right now, not what we can't do right now. “If you wanna stay Positive, Healthy and undistracted, then leave the association of negative minded people because that's what they breathe out and you don't wanna fill your lungs with that kind of filthy air.” ― Indy Bissessur

by Michael Corthell You have your positive mindset, and things have been going pretty well, but then things 'seemingly' start to take a turn for the negative. We've all experienced day when it seems that there's nothing but problem after problem. Days like these threaten our strong, positive mindsets and may, if not dealt with immediately, stop us from moving forward. We may even tell ourselves that we should have seen it coming. Maybe we did see it coming, but didn't want to believe it. This can cause guilt. What do we do? The first thing is we accept these negatives as inevitable and don't panic. Then, we get back to basics. Understand: Everything happens for a reason and is temporary. Happiness in life is dependent on your approach to life, not what happens to you. That there are things that are going right in your life. You have people that have your back, 100%. And know what you care about most and what is expendable. That you are ult

MORE: Increase smiling, lessen the worrying. More compassion, practice less judgment. More blessed, be less stressed. Having more love, lessens hate. “Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present.” ― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations No amount of regretting can change the past, and no amount of worrying can change the future.

“Be careful about reading health books. Some fine day you'll die of a misprint.” ― Markus Herz A sign of good overall health is that a person doesn't get unraveled by fear. They take fear as a message that it's time to stop struggling and look directly at what's threatening them....and do something about it. “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.” ― Hippocrates