How receptive are you? How receptive am I?  A tricky question we don’t ask ourselves often enough. The quality of taking in and receiving is being receptive to all life has to offer us. We often say no to life without even realizing it.  Mother Nature never says no to life, she is life.  We are the energetic force of life, living breathing receptors that have the ability to receive great abundance. When I speak of abundance, I am speaking of the flow of good into all areas of our lives.  By remaining in harmony we become receptive, allowing our greater good to come to us.

I don’t know about you, but I have found that by my own efforts alone, I dilute my power to fully live the life I desire and dream of. When I make powerful conscious choices to set up my future, I am then able to hand the details over to my perfected self, my higher self who knows exactly how to bring to me what I want and at exactly the right time.  My job is to stay out of the way by remaining harmonious and receptive to my good.  There are seen and unseen forces in the Universe that can go to work for us in ways we can’t imagine. I can tell you that when I use these Universal Laws and Principles, they work.  Test it out for yourself, take a little test drive.  If we want change, we have to be open and receptive!

We need to become receptive listeners who are open and responsive to what comes our way.  That is part of harmony.  When we are stressed, in a hurry or shut down to listening, it is hard to feel and hear the messages the heart is sending us in its infinite love, wisdom and power.  We have been trained to behave in a certain way since birth to survive in the world as we know it.  It’s not easy to re-train yourself to remain harmonious in a world full of chaos, but there is another world out there waiting for those who do.

Be receptive to the beauty of life. There has always been human suffering simply because of the choices people make. When we are unreceptive to love and its family, only sadness, regret and fear can occupy that space.  By making the choice to live in and from the heart, you remain open and receptive to your highest and greatest good. We must take a stand if we want change, because we are the change-makers and each decision we make matters. Receptivity is a superpower, and so are you!

“Not only do your thoughts and words and actions affect others in an obvious way, but they also have an impact far beyond any that you might have intended. And, to complete the concept of the Golden Rule, what you send out will come back to you, so the actions you take or the words you speak or the thoughts you conceive should be ones that you feel comfortable returning to you, for they inevitably will.” ~Lessons from the Source by Jack Armstrong

Debra Oakland

Are you in the flow or out of the flow? We are either flowing with our good or going against it. How is the energy flow affecting each of our lives and how can we harness it? Watch this video of Oprah Winfrey for some insight. Oprah is a woman who delivers gifts of love to the world. What a wonderful example of Living in Courage.

“If you lose hope, somehow you lose the vitality that keeps life moving, you lose that courage to be, that quality that helps you go on in spite of it all.”
Martin Luther King, Jr. Minister, Civil Rights Activist (1929-1968);

British Street Artist Banksy

Hope carries a vibration of optimism for the expectation and outcome of change.  It is obvious that our world is quickly changing before our eyes.  Even though there has been ongoing devastation around the world that has presented untold challenges, there is also a feeling of hope that people carry in their hearts. As world events continue to bring waves of change, we as a world community are coming together, to assist our fellow man as never before. There are no borders where love and compassionate support are concerned. We are all the child, the mother, the father, sister, brother and family member who feel compassion. We hold on to hope when others are in pain or suffering. Everyone wants to be happy, safe, healthy, abundant and whole. We all want for the same basics in life, and in that way we are no different. It is in that same-ness that we forge a bond of hope for our brothers and sisters around the world. It is that bond of hope that can bring the end of separation and allow change to carry us and our planet to new heights of awareness and peace.

Hope is a beautiful thing. Carry it close to your heart in the expectation of the magnificent changes that can and will occur from a place of love. Hope is energy. You are energy alive, border-less and free.  Emily Dickinson wrote in a poem that “Hope is the thing with feathers/ That perches in the soul.”

There Is Always Hope!

I have heard it said that our life is governed by immutable laws and principles that never vary. These laws are in operation in all time and places. I have also heard that every effect is the result of the cause, and that the effect becomes the cause, which creates other effects, and on it goes. I have found my life experiences unfold beautifully when I choose from a place of love. This brings “Endless Possibilities” into my experience. The power of thought is so powerful because it creates a result. I am magnetic, you are magnetic. This poses the questions “What am I bringing into my life, and what motivates me in my decision making?” I have to say that as each day passes, and I choose love as the motivating factor, my life expands. When I go back to old habits of thought, feeling and action, it is reflected back to me very quickly.

I choose to see it as a privilege to have the ability to make a conscious choice in each moment. How I think, feel and act has a vibratory effect that flows out into the world. I want to see change in the world, just as you do. The best way I can make my individual contribution is to act in accordance with love and peace. If I see this world as broken, I am part of the problem. I prefer to see this world pristine, healed, in a state of peace, love and joy. If I have a desire yet doubt it can be a reality, how can that desire show up in my life? It can’t. I envision this world in a state of magnificence and see it as an already existing fact. I have planted a seed thought of peace. I will nurture it endlessly.

How do you see your life, your environment, the world? Wisdom requires an understanding of the basic knowledge and working principles of the Universe. These laws and principles never vary. As you learn to work with these laws, illuminated wisdom will light your way. Miracles do happen. If you have no knowledge of your power, your courage, how can you use it? Accessing and applying the knowledge deep in your heart and soul will allow you to act with purpose and determination.

What are you thinking about throughout the day? Your thoughts and feelings are being fertilized by your attention to them. Have you ever looked through a camera lens that is out of focus? The object was blurry, hard to see or unrecognizable. What is in your viewfinder? Is it blurry or in focus? What you think, feel and act upon will find you. Acting on a desire out fear and doubt will send you less than desired results. When love and joy are the motivating factor, you will develop crystal clear clarity in attaining your desired result. Be vigilant, move forward, expand and stand in your power. The Universe if infinite. The unseen can be brought into your reality, because there are unlimited resources available to the Universe that you may not be aware of. Choose to work on one desire you want more than anything else. Focus the force of your thought, feeling and action upon it, while allowing the unseen forces of the Universe to handle the details. Stay happy, on course, never lose sight of your desire and know that it must come to you. If you are not focused, doubt your desired outcome, hopping from one desire to another, your end result will scatter like leaves in a strong wind. Do not worry about the time frame in which it comes to you. Have faith, knowing it is done. Once you take back your creative powers, you will never be the same.

Debra Oakland

Frederick Buechner wrote “The grace of God means something like: Here is your life. You might never have been, but you are because the party wouldn’t have been complete without you.  Here is the world.  Beautiful and terrible things will happen.  Don’t be afraid.  I am with you.  Nothing can ever separate us.  It’s for you I created the Universe.  I love you.  There’s only one catch.  Like any other gift, the gift of grace can be yours only if you’ll reach out and take it.  Maybe being able to reach out and take it is a gift too.”

How often do we miss opportunities, relationships, partnership and all that life has to offer because we did not have the courage to reach out?  Like the gift of grace, it is our choice to live the life we have been given.  I hope you are enjoying co-creating with the Universe!  There is a whole world full of marvelous gifts to choose from.

Debra Oakland @ Living in Courage

Are you tired of people thinking for you?  It is exhausting, and leaves  you feeling unfulfilled.  At birth we were each endowed with the Secrets of the Universe.  Each one of us holds the key to our own destiny.  Learning to de-program the illusions presented to us from the outside world can be quite a task.  It takes vigilance, courage and determination.  Not only that, it needs to be done in love.  Are you kidding, you might ask?  After finding out about world domination, I have to love these people!  You couldn’t write better material.  It’s freaking genius…it is enough to drive people insane! Oh, wait, it has!

Do you consider yourself sane?  I seriously question all of our sanity. By allowing ourselves to be dragged into the quicksand of the outer world, we turn away from who we are.  Our true identity is taken from us bit by bit.  Over time, we don’t even realize what has happened and why our world is in such turmoil.  Who are you?  Why is that knowledge repressed?  The many are controlled by the few.  An entire population has been convinced that everything is under control, they want us to stick to the routine of daily life and keep on sleeping in the shadows.

“Humanity is now faced with a stark choice: Evolve or die. … If the structures of the human mind remain unchanged, we will always end up re-creating the same world, the same evils, the same dysfunction.”
— Eckhart Tolle

Debra Oakland @ Living in Courage

Courage is constancy under the most trying of circumstances and action at the moment when it is needed most.  This statement that is applicable to life in many ways.  Replace the word courage with love, harmony, encouragement, inspiration, or peace.  These are concentrated actions that can assist us in times of need.  When we do anything in life that requires these qualities, life improves.  Choose any word to add to the beginning of this statement that appeals to you and see how it fits.

Our world is based on well being.  When we allow this feeling to flow in it’s fullness, we feel very good.  Watch this inspiring video on well being!  You are the only one that holds the keys to your happiness, courage, love, abundance and all good things.

Debra Oakland @ Living in Courage

There are challenges before us in the world that seem insurmountable.  Our education teaches us about the difficulties the world faces, the difficulties we face as a human race.  This affects every one of us.  Inspiration is key because it inspires us to take action, to stand up and face challenges.  We can’t accomplish healing our planet alone, but we can do it together. Each person needs to take responsibility for their visit here.  The Earth is fine, and will be here with or without us.  By harming our ability to live on the planet in a healthy way, we are destroying a great gift that has been shared with us.  This world is full of beauty and abundance. As we each take a stand for peace, love and unity our planet and our lives will return to the state of love we were meant to live in.

Courage is a quality that lives in every soul.  Living in courage is a journey.  How easy or rough that journey will be is up to you.  Everything you do has consequence, no exceptions.  Being vigilant each day of your intentions, is a beautiful way to move forward in peace.

I wish you peace, courage, love and unity.

Debra Oakland @ Living in Courage Online

Suspended Animation. Does your life feel like that sometimes? Especially in regard to manifestation of your dreams and desires. Waiting for our good, asking where it is, wondering why it is taking so freaking long to show up.  Asking, meditating, praying, hoping and believing is it around the corner.  A lifetime can be spent waiting for our good.  Our best effort can even prove fruitless in many cases, or when “it” shows up, it is not the way you envisioned.  Many people simply give up right before the moment of their perfect manifestation! It takes courage to stay the course.

When you have a dream or desire sitting in your soul, never give up on it.  With applied knowledge, practice, and above all knowing-ness, you will be able to bring the unformed into the formed. Did anyone tell you this would be easy? NO! If it were that easy, everyone would have everything they wanted. For your assistance, there are universal laws and principles that can be learned, applied and lived by.  Many of them hidden in plain site!

Who do you serve?  Yourself in all your power, OR the outer world in all it’s distortion and misdirection?  The outer world will lead you down a merry road that can distract you from the essence of who you truly are.  You are a very powerful creator being, complete with all the perfection you could ever imagine.   Through the choices and decisions you have made, based on the outer world, you have altered the course of your own life.  By living from the inside out, you become the master of  your outer life as it unfolds, moment by moment.  There are millions of voices in the world and they all have an “opinion.”  Listen to your heart, where you can safely navigate the waters of life.  Let your soul speak to you, it has a voice prepared just for you.

Debra Oakland @ Living in Courage Online

As I lay in bed with the strange sensation of vertigo, I have been contemplating life and the seeming inability for humanity as a whole, to change.  I have often talked about the garden of our consciousness.  Pulling weeds, then planting seeds of love, wisdom, peace, gratitude and grace.  All watered with unity.  As we make a conscious effort to make changes within ourselves from the inside out, shifts occur.

But what about our Higher Selves? The true perfection of who and what we are.  Imagine our Higher Self, or Presence trying to plant just ONE seed of a Universal Law inside us. One that can be nourished and grow!  Not easy to do, as we all run around busy busy, trying to survive in the “outer” world.  That one seed could deliver our true identity, or some information critical to our survival as a species, or our gift – the passion in life we came here to live.  I want that connection, don’t you?

This is two fold.  One, by taking responsibility for our own life’s garden. Two, by being receptive to a more important message from our one true source.  It’s time to take the blinders off, to get busy living our true authentic life.  Not the person the world thinks we are, or expects us to be.  Reaching inside gives us the courage to look deeper, past what is in the “outer” world.  Only by living from the inside out, will we survive on this planet.  Unity is critical at this point.  Everyone needs to come to terms with the fact that we have created quite a mess down here.  We do have the ability to re-align ourselves and this beautiful planet, back to the original state of purity/perfection of creation. Our responsibility is to our Creators, the Collective, Mother Earth and all her Kingdoms.  It is time to return to that divine place in our hearts that will heal everything, bringing us all back into alignment.  Are you in?

Debra Oakland @ Living in Courage Online