Redefining Luxury: Embracing Opulence Through Gratitude

What if you could redefine luxury through the lens of gratitude? 

Join me, Kirsten Barfoot, on this episode of Journey to Iconic as we explore a transformative perspective that elevates the ordinary into extraordinary opulence. 

Inspired by an eye-opening story about embracing the essence of luxury without the hefty price tag, we dive deep into how gratitude can reshape our understanding of what truly feels luxurious. 

Imagine finding the same richness in everyday moments that you might expect from a first-class flight experience. Together, we’ll discover how a shift in focus can unlock a profound sense of fulfillment and joy in our daily lives.

This episode invites you to recognise the miracles of your body and mind, nurturing a full-bodied gratitude that transcends material possessions. We’ll delve into appreciating the simple yet miraculous functions of our being, from how our body carries us through life to how our mind allows us to connect and create. 

By embracing the present moment, we can create a life of endless luxury through gratitude, regardless of external circumstances. 

Tune in to transform your perception and learn how to truly embody opulence in every aspect of your life, starting with the here and now.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Welcome to the Journey to Iconic podcast, where we unlock your highest potentials through transformation and intuition. I'm your host, kirsten Barfoot, ceo of Journey to Iconic. Each week, we dive into the realms of personal growth, intuition and authentic leadership, guiding you to become the best version of yourself. Whether you're looking to enhance your personal brand, align with your true direction or tap into your inner wisdom, you're in the right place. Let's embark on this journey together and start transforming your life today.

Speaker 1: 0:37

Hello, hello and welcome to this episode of Journey to Iconic, where I want to discuss a very popular topic. It won't be a new topic for you, but hopefully the information that I will share you will have a new insight as to how to approach this. This topic is gratitude. So I did say it's not a new topic, but I did hear something the other day when I was reading an email from someone I follow and she talked about gratitude in a way that I really got a new sense of it. And when I get a new sense and something really, really shifts and is highly transformational for me, I immediately want to share it. So I hope that you get the wisdom from it and will be willing to go and experiment for yourself and see how it lands for you.

Speaker 1: 1:45

So the other day I was reading this email and this lady was talking about embodying the experience of luxury, and so she wanted to book a business class ticket rather than an economy ticket from Brisbane to Bali or Sydney to Bali, and so she was talking about that it's this four times price difference. And so, anyway, she wanted embody this, this sense of luxury. So she she purchased the, the business class ticket, and she embodied all of those aspects of being in that luxury, of of being in the experience. Uh, while she was in it, so you know, immersing herself in the fact that she had this beautiful chair and it was reclining, and she had an additional blanket, and she got given the white glove service while she was eating, and she was offered a beautiful glass of champagne and all of the things, and throughout this whole experience, she expressed immense gratitude for all of this. And so for me, I was like wow, that's such a different way of experience, of gratitude, you know, like this real, full on body experience, of really taking that in in every cell of your body.

Speaker 1: 3:23

And the realization I had was we get so caught up in this whole needing to have this luxurious experience, and then it's like putting ourselves into a four times blowout to test our limits in terms of how far we can go with this experience. Now, this was her experience, so that was what she wanted to go towards. So it was an amazing learning for me because I was like, okay, so we don't have to necessarily have these four times the price experiences to have the experience of gratitude and even I wanted to take it even back further is to really understand that we have desires, we have wants. There's always something that we would like to head towards within the future. Wants. There's always something that we would like to head towards within the future, and so the realization that I want to share with you is that we have this divine present moment. We have this amazing present moment of where we are right now, and we don't have to chase after those luxurious experiences to experience luxury. And so this is what I wanted to share was that we really have an opportunity to make every single moment of our life luxurious by virtue of how grateful we can be in this divine present moment. And what do I mean by that? So there might be some things in your house that you think need to be done or there might be some outstanding items at work. There could be things that you would like to change about your body. There might be things you would like to change about your mind. There might be things that you want to change about a lot of things, but the purpose of this episode is to really bring it back into this divine present moment and to just immerse ourselves in that, being grateful for the way that our body takes us from A to B, from the way that our mind allows us to understand, to conceptualize, to visualize, to allow us to do our work, to look after our community.

Speaker 1: 6:11

There are so many things within our life that we take for granted. There are so many things within our life that we take for granted. You know, if you're a parent, you might be able to relate to this is that I am a parent and you know there are so many times these children, they can frustrate us, you know, but there will only be one of these moments that you know they're going to be here and at some point, these children, they grow up, they become teenagers and they become adults and then they start their own families and you know, as a parent, it's like I'm not going to be part of that person's life in such a way as I am now, and so it's like relishing in those moments. It's been so grateful for these moments that we have right now, even the frustrations, even the uncertainties, even the things that just don't work sometimes. You know, it's like those are the moments that we can truly be grateful for, because we will work through these times. We will work through these and for sure there will be another challenge that will come up that we will have to navigate.

Speaker 1: 7:27

But it's like really taking that time to, to experience what it is and, as I said, bringing it back to that luxurious moment. There are times that maybe you don't feel like the most luxurious person in the world, but what if you started to get a sense of yourself as being luxurious, like every cell of your body, feeling the sense of luxury, like being so grateful for the, the arms and the legs and the feet and the cells and the and you know, bringing in your bones and like, when I'm talking about gratitude, I'm talking about, like a full body, immersive, uh, exercise I don't know if exercise is the right word, but that's where they're coming. It's like just really embodying this sense of gratitude from a cellular level, not from a, and then that becomes an experiential level, but it's not from a sense of, like, this external focus. Oh, I need to chase after this particular experience, to experience gratitude. And for those who might be experiencing some health issues, it's actually like really, really really bringing in that sense of gratitude of the experience of, like, how does my body feel? And if it's not that great, it's like can I be grateful for the discomfort? Can I be grateful for the fact that it's not working right now? Can I, can I be grateful for that?

Speaker 1: 9:01

Because this is when we can transcend, this is when we can really start to open up that, um, that sense of love of of who we are. Uh, we are in every aspect, you know, especially the things that don't work, because you know these are the transcendent moments in life, that when we start to honour them and see their purpose in our life and yes, I get that sometimes it's not the greatest and sometimes it might be quite tricky to feel the sense of gratitude for it, because you know, going through any kind of challenge is hard, I get it but it's in those moments that if we can really start to feel that sense of gratitude if we can have the wherewithal to bring it back to that divine present moment. There is such an opportunity for uh, for that transcendence into something far greater than we can even imagine right now. And I just really wanted to share that experience because I felt it. I, you know, I've just spent a couple of days like really really uh, experimenting with it and really experiencing it, and it's just made such a big difference to I can notice the way that I feel about life. There's a skip in my step, there's a um, you know, there's a zest for everything. It's like a real deep appreciation for every single thing that I have. And sure, it doesn't mean that I don't desire things greater, but I really want to bring just that sense of that divine present moment without that want or desire for something in the future. It's like really bringing it back to what is it that I have now? How do I make all of those things in my life luxurious by virtue of the fact that I have them in my life right now? And there's something really, really special about that. So today I want to just leave you with that message and invite you into the experience of gratitude, like from a really deep cellular level. It's like, you know, even if you are sitting on your couch and there's a beautiful, warm, fluffy blanket, it's to really like nourish yourself into that blanket. And for those of you who might be experiencing a heat wave right now, you might be like, well, that's not really going to be my thing right now, but maybe if there's a cool breeze in the air, it's like really feeling that on your skin and just really embracing the luxury of, you know, maybe that coolness in your hair or that coolness on your face or on your body. I hope those are some examples that will allow you to just experience, go on the experimentation, to see what you can feel grateful for today from a real full-on body immersion experience, and don't hesitate to share with me.

Speaker 1: 12:17

I love hearing people's stories. I love hearing people's insights of how something shifted or your experience of what it is that I'm saying. I love all of that. So don't be shy, share away, and I look forward to seeing you in the next episode. Bye for now. Thank you for joining me on this episode of Journey to Iconic Podcast. I hope you found inspiration and practical insights to help you unlock your highest potential. If you enjoyed today's episode. Please subscribe, rate and leave a review to help others find us for more resources and to connect with our community. Follow kirsten barford on linkedin and other socials or visit our website at wwwkirstenbarfordcom. Remember your journey to iconic starts with embracing your unique self and stepping into your power. Until next time time, keep moving forward, trust yourself and remember I've got you.