The Official Website of Michael Corthell

by Michael Corthell 'Karma' is a Sanskrit word meaning 'act', 'action', or 'word'. The law of karma teaches us that all of our thoughts, words and actions begin a chain of cause and effect , and that we will personally experience the effects of everything we cause. We may not experience the effect (the returning karma) right away, but you can count on it happening. Karma is a cosmic, immutable law, which means that it applies to everyone, everywhere, all the time. Ralph Waldo Emerson had much to say about this law, and in fact he describes the law of cause and effect as the law of laws . In a narrower sense, Karma is a theological concept found in the Buddhist and Hindu religions. It is the idea that how you live your life will determine the quality of life you will have after reincarnation. If you are unselfish, kind, and holy during this lifetime, you will be rewarded by being reincarnated (reborn into a new earthly body) into a pleasant l

“Enthusiasm is a supernatural serenity.” ― Henry David Thoreau Napoleon Hill, the author of “Think and Grow Rich” said the following: “Enthusiasm is a state of mind that inspires and arouses one to put action into the task at hand . . . Enthusiasm bears the same relationship to a human being that steam does to the locomotive – it is the vital moving force that impels action.”

“Unless we put medical freedom into the Constitution the time will come when medicine will organize itself into an undercover dictatorship. To restrict the art of healing to doctors and deny equal privileges to others will constitute the Bastille of medical science. All such laws are un-American and despotic.” ― Benjamin Rush , a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence and a civic leader in Philadelphia. The American people should be asking why they can't have the same level of healthcare, for the same cost, as other countries that have similar resources. The answer is easy to understand, by the way: it is the absence of the basic public health insurance that citizens of most other countries take for granted.

There is one reason for telling the truth -- it's the right thing to do, but for lying the reasons are infinite, with almost all the reasons self-serving -- that's why lying is a corrupt politician's go-to tactic. “Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president or any other public official, save exactly to the degree in which he himself stands by the country. It is patriotic to support him insofar as he efficiently serves the country. It is unpatriotic not to oppose him to the exact extent that by inefficiency or otherwise he fails in his duty to stand by the country. In either event, it is unpatriotic not to tell the truth, whether about the president or anyone else.” ― Theodore Roosevelt  

We're all learners, all the time. It's just we're a different kind each day. We think, 'I'm not student today. I've learned my lesson. I was a learner yesterday but not this morning'. Then tomorrow we find out that, yes, we were a learner today too. I think the only way we can grow and get on in this world is to accept the fact we're not perfect and live accordingly...don't you? “Yesterday is but a dream, Tomorrow is only a vision.  But today well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness,  and every tomorrow a vision of hope.” ― Kālidāsa

  The morning that started out as a complete mess was turned around by....a SMILE. We can’t always control what happens to us, but slapping a smile on our mugs can definitely change our internal and external experiences. "Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile,  but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy." — Thich Nhat Hanh

Let's try this: If you have  never  changed your mind about some fundamental thing in your belief system, if you have never  questioned  it's basics, and if you have  no wish  to do so, then you are very likely ignorant. How about going out and finding someone who,  in your opinion , believes, assumes, or considers certain things very strongly and very differently from what you believe. Then just have a basic honest conversation. That is how we can all build positive tolerance and unify.  

  If you are positive, positive things will find you.  I submit to you again that all futures are created by thoughts. And that the foundation of all happiness is faith. A happy life is also a healthy life. None of us will ever be perfectly healthy, but we can seek our personal  optimal level of health.  If we can accept the premise that our minds can create illness, it would naturally follow that we can also create wellness. And therein lies a most powerful truth about healing.  Have faith, be positive about your future and create it.

We can't escape the idea that, in general, people commonly use false moral standards judge their own behavior. Most people seek success and wealth for themselves and admire them in others, but at the same time,  to be wealthy and honored in an unjust society is a moral disgrace.

Yearning to do good, to do better starts with an inspired vision.  When people can see it in their mind’s eye and hold a vision before them of what is possible for the future, it inspires them to take action. It gives them a goal to work towards. It gives meaning to their daily actions. It helps them stay the course, especially when they need it most.  Inspiring a shared vision requires our leaders to be thoughtful visionaries who engage others in creating a shared future. 

Book except from Madeleine K. Albright's Fascism: A Warning We cannot, of course, expect every leader to possess the wisdom of Lincoln or Mandela’s largeness of soul. But when we think about what questions might be most useful to ask, perhaps we should begin by discerning what our prospective leaders believe it worthwhile for us to hear. Do they cater to our prejudices by suggesting that we treat people outside our ethnicity, race, creed or party as unworthy of dignity and respect? Do they want us to nurture our anger toward those who we believe have done us wrong, rub raw our grievances and set our sights on revenge? Do they encourage us to have contempt for our governing institutions and the electoral process? Do they seek to destroy our faith in essential contributors to democracy, such as an independent press, and a professional judiciary? Do they exploit the symbols of patriotism, the flag, the pledge in a conscious effort to turn us against one another? If defeated at the pol

All of us need just three things in life to be truly happy:  Someone to love Something to do  Something to hope for.... let's just do this, shall we?

If you want to achieve your dreams and take steps to achieve your life goals, then commitment is the key to help you get there. If you believe you can reach your goals and have the commitment and self-confidence to expand that belief, anything is possible.