Metaphor for Life: Lessons from a Huntsman Spider

Ever found yourself face-to-face with a massive huntsman spider and wondered what it could teach you about personal growth? 

Discover how a surprising encounter with one of these Australian arachnids became a profound lesson in courage, intuition, and authentic leadership. 

This episode of the Journey to Iconic podcast explores the unexpected ways our everyday experiences can inspire transformation and help us unlock our highest potential. 

As I share my humorous yet nerve-wracking adventure in spider-wrangling, you’ll learn how to harness your inner strength and intuition to overcome challenges and manifest success.

Join us for an engaging narrative that goes beyond the typical motivational talk. This story not only entertains but also offers valuable insights into enhancing your personal brand and aligning with your true direction. 

Whether it's gently capturing a spider or confronting life's bigger fears, this episode demonstrates the importance of facing challenges with compassion and courage. 

Tune in to discover the unique secret to your own success journey, as we explore how simple acts of bravery can lead to profound personal empowerment.

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. Hello, hello and welcome to this episode where I'm tempted to call it the secret to manifesting. But it's not the secret. It's a secret because everybody has got a secret and it is just right for you, but I wanted to share this because it was an important story that occurred last night.

Speaker 1: 1:02

Now, you may know by now that my accent is from Australia. I live in Australia, I live in Brisbane, australia, and you may or may not know that Australia has some of the biggest, craziest spiders in the world. I'm not sure that they're quite as crazy as the tarantula. The tarantula might be the granddaddy of them all, but we have a spider called a huntsman here, and they're not poisonous, they don't hurt. But these spiders can be super huge and we just happened to have this spider and I'd seen it a couple of times in our kitchen and you know he's fairly harmless or she is fairly harmless, so I've never really done anything about this spider. Plus, they do tend to move quite quickly. So you know, one minute you're there, you see it, and the next minute they've kind of like disappeared somewhere. Anyway, last night this spider was on the wall in my dining room so it was kind of making a little bit of a journey towards the inside of the house, which my son and I I don't think we'd be very satisfied if it made its way upstairs and we found the spider upstairs in our bedrooms one day. That's not going to make anyone happy. So I resolved to myself I've got these plastic containers that I try to capture these spiders whenever they come and get them into the container and then I can release them into the garden or whatever so that they're out of the house. But I haven't harmed them. Anyway, I don't know if I reiterate, can I just reiterate that this spider was super huge, like super huge. I've never seen a spider this big and it's pretty scary.

Speaker 1: 3:13

So, and I didn't have the Dutch courage of my son, you know like by my side to kind of, you know, champion me. Go mum, go mum. I had to do this on my own because he was asleep. So anyway, I was like, okay, I actually need reinforcements here, because I don't know that I can do it on my own. I could feel my anxiety, my blood pressure was, you know, my heart was starting to beat fast and I was starting to feel the pressure of needing to do this without harming the spider, right? So this is a big thing. I didn't want to like smash the plastic container against the wall and then, you know, like crush a leg or something. I really didn't want to do that. I wanted the spider to just stay still in the place that it was, so that I could put the container over gently. So I was like, okay, right, I need reinforcements here. So I said a little message to God and I was like God and spider I was talking to them both at the same time and I was like, okay, what I need to do is I need to put this container over the spider. I do not want to harm any of its legs, so it needs to just stay in the same place so that I can get it into the container and then I can put it out outside and it can just be released into the wild unharmed and everyone's happy it's out of the house but the spider is free to go and find another home somewhere else. So I was quite satisfied. The spider seemed to be understanding that I was speaking to it and I did not want to harm it. It wasn't going wild or crazy on the wall, it was just staying there put.

Speaker 1: 4:56

And then the next part was actually getting the courage to do the act, to do the act, to do the act, to do the act. So I hope you know where I'm going to go with this episode, because there is quite a lot of gold in this little story. We just need to get to the crunchy part, which is not crunch the spider. Anyway, I realized that I really needed the courage to leap. So in real life, in life situations where we are wanting to go towards something and we desperately, we have this vision. So I had the vision. I wanted to get the spider into the container and out into the garden for it to be free, okay. So it was very clear and a very specific strategy of what I wanted to do.

Speaker 1: 5:50

But what did I actually need I to act, to act and to make it happen, because I still had to do something. That made me very, very, very uncomfortable, and all through this process I was like, wow, this is such a cool metaphor for life. You know, like here I am struggling with this very thing, but the very act is really going to produce the miracle. And the miracle did occur because I did very calmly pick up the courage with, I believe, god's help and put the plastic container very gently over the spider, and the spider was pretty calm he, he or he, she, whatever, uh it, the spider was very calm, and so then I had to get the lid underneath and and I, so I managed to close it up, and and then I, of course, I then, uh, I had to take a photo because, um, this, it still doesn't look that big, like it nearly took over the whole container, but still, for some reason, when you take a photo, it never looks as big. Maybe it's not sure which one's the truth, though. So, anyway, the spider was giant, so I took a photo and then I released it out into the garden.

Speaker 1: 7:14

Now this story is just so important, like I just feel like, oh, you know, we're getting to the end of the year, right. So there's this period where we're closing out, right. We're closing out the year and I'm not using a year specific because I feel like this message can be used at any phase but at the closure of something, at the completion of something. So we're at the completion of a year, and so there's that consolidation of the end of something. It's getting everything together, but then it's putting the specifics of what it is that we'd like to intend for the next phase, right. And so that was synonymous with where I was going with this spider. It was like, okay, what I need is I need you to be still, I'm going to put the plastic container over you and then I am going to move you out into the garden, right.

Speaker 1: 8:22

There is this very specific chain of events there, and I know with businesses it's a little bit more complex than that. But when we're talking about setting our intentions for the year, we really get to be very high level about it. We don't need to necessarily get into the specifics. The specifics are very important, of course, because they are part of the process, but the intention of what it is that we're trying to create is the most important thing, the vision, the ideation, the. You know, seeing this thing, what does it feel like when it's come to fruition?

Speaker 1: 9:03

In this particular case, it was being free of a spider and being able to sleep without worrying about it. You know, coming in and you know, coming into my bedroom and making a cozy bed in my bed, like that's not what I wanted. So I was very motivated by what I didn't want in this particular case, but also I had very strong intention that I obviously didn't want to harm the spider and I wanted it to go out and be free, right, okay, mean, the point is, is that when we the knowing what we need is one part of the exercise, right, but the part that takes the courage, the part that can be the hardest and the most uncomfortable and the part we need to invoke the courage is is the part of taking the leap, of taking that step to make something happen. We have to act upon our intention in some capacity. We have to, and you know I'm not the kind of person who is going to say it needs to be these big, giant leaps. I believe in the small, consistent leaps, like little consistent steps are just enough to make those big changes. So, you know, don't?

Speaker 1: 10:35

It doesn't matter how big or small the step or the act is, it's about just making an act, do a thing with the intention of what it is that you're heading towards. So, as you come to the completion of this year, as you come to the completion, as you think about what it is that you are wanting to create, think about the things that you would like to go towards next year, thinking about the things that might actually scare you. You know, like, actually notice those things, notice the things that bring up the fear. Because, again, I'm not the kind of person who says you're not going to feel self-doubt or you're not going to feel the fear. It's about acknowledging those experiences. You feel the self-doubt or you're not going to feel the fear. It's about acknowledging those experiences. You feel the self-doubt.

Speaker 1: 11:30

I didn't know if I was going to be able to do it. You know I felt the fear. Oh, what if I hurt it? Or what if it started running across the room and I missed it? You know, there's that fear, but it's not about making those things the real things, it's just about acknowledging. Okay, right, I'm just going to have to bring in a little bit of courage here, because when I can experience the courage and know what I am heading towards, then I can and you know what Is asking for a little bit of help, support, whether that be from another human being, or whether that be from you know God, or whatever it is that you, you know, if you're an angel person, or you're an Allah person, or you're a, you know, a universe person, whatever the thing is for you that you invoke from that spiritual body, then don't be afraid to ask for help and give specific instructions.

Speaker 1: 12:31

This is what I'm going towards, right? What I need is some help. I need some help to make these things happen and I need some help with the courage to make sure that I am leaping or taking the steps that are actually in alignment with the things that I'm trying to do, in alignment with the things that I'm trying to do. So I hope that you enjoyed that story today and I hope that you know, wherever you find yourself at this present moment, that you know taking that step, asking for courage, getting specific about what it is that you're heading towards, and taking that step, whatever it is big or small, but also congratulating yourself and being proud of yourself for taking that small step, because that small step is leading to another one and, before you know it, you can look back and see how far you've come and how many steps you've taken along the way. So I hope that's been supportive, you know, and I hope it's given you a new and fresh perspective to manifesting the very thing that you are going towards. All right, have a wonderful blessed time and I will talk to you soon.

Speaker 1: 13:47

Bye, 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, keep moving forward, trust yourself and remember I've got you.