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How to Lead a Life Filled with Luxury Without Earning One Dollar More



What feels luxurious to you?


Sleeping in late and savoring breakfast in bed?


High-threat count sheets and fluffy, soft towels?


Striding down the street, head held high, feeling attractive and powerful?


The deep relaxation and well-being you experience after a massage or spa treatment?


Waking up to the sound of crashing waves, or to the smell of fresh pine mountain air?


Luxury means different things to different people. One woman’s luxury is another’s necessity. While one may delight in a manicure, another may see it as a chore she has to get done. Manicured nails are expected as a news anchorwoman.


One man may slide into clean high-count sheets at night and revel in the the feel of the sheets against his skin, the fresh smell as he drifts off to sleep. Still, someone else could climb into bed and not even notice.


One person’s luxury of buying a caramel latte in a café is another’s daily taken-for-granted ritual. The first person sips the caramel latte slowly, delighting in the taste, the ambiance of the café, and the feel of the warm cup in her hands. 


The second drinks the latte while texting, working, or driving to work. Her mind is somewhere else, the coffee is simply the jolt she needs to fuel the first part of her day.



So how do you lead a life filled with luxury without earning one dollar more? 


Determine What Brings You Joy


Add joy to your life and you instantly add more luxury. So determine what allows joy to wash through you.


 Is it the first taste of your coffee?


Walking down the street feeling gorgeous in a new outfit? 


 Is it a moment of stillness in nature, when the worries and tenacious thoughts fall away and you feel connected, and see something beautiful?


The well-being that floods your body and spirit as you run that last mile, finish your yoga class, ski down the mountain, meditate, swim in the lake?


 Perhaps joy for you is time. Time to melt into your favorite chair and read. Nowhere to go. Nothing that must be done. 


Or joy floods your system at a party, surrounded by your favorite people.


Brainstorm what brings you joy. Attention: do not confuse joy with happiness. Joy is quiet and sticky. Happiness is loud and effervescent. 


Joy will softly rise up within you and then stay with you even as the colors of the sunset fade, the glow of the yoga hour diminishes, the last drop of coffee is gone, and the party is long over. Happiness crashes in when circumstances are just right and disappears just as quickly when things change. 


Happiness is more of the ego. Joy is more of the soul. When the ego feels better than, pride, or a sense of self-satisfaction, then happiness slams forward. Joy unfurls when the ego falls away, when we feel connected, see, and really experience beauty, and when love floods our hearts.  


Once you’ve brainstormed your list of joy-inspiring experiences, then the next step is to open up more time for them in your life. Put joy-inducing activities into your schedule. 


Wake up ten minutes earlier so you can savor your caramel latte while doing nothing else at the same time. Smell the coffee, taste it, enjoy the ambiance of the café or the walk to work. If you are at home, walk out onto your balcony, or out into the garden. Sip while you connect to nature.


Give Yourself the Gift of Time


You can sleep until your natural rhythm wakes you up. You have all the time in the world to savor a delicious breakfast.


You have nowhere to hurry to afterward. No to-do list scrambles your brain out of the present moment. Stress and tension melt away.


 You start to appreciate things you never noticed before, the inner surge of joy when you are hugged goodbye, the dew sparkling on the grass, the feel of your clothes against your skin as you walk down the street.


You stop to savor your favorite hot drink slowly in your favorite café, trying to decide how to spend your day. What is a day of joy? Consult your joy list. Is it hiking a mountain? To melt into bed with a favorite book, a hot tear, and no sense of guilt?


Time is a luxury. Do you give yourself the gift of time?


Do you set aside time to just be? To savor? To drink in the moments that take your breath away? To magnify your moments of joy, amplifying the intensity of your good feelings, reveling in them?


If you don’t set aside time to just be, then why not? 


You may think that life is hard and you need to work hard. It is self-indulgent to take time to savor when you’re not sure you will be able to get all the work done on your list. Only when all the work is done can you play. 


It’s just that the work is rarely ever all done and by then you’re exhausted.


Or you have so many people demanding your time, that you have a hard time telling them no because you want some time to yourself. If you’re a people pleaser, then it will be almost impossible to say no.


You may believe that your boss, your children, your parents, your partner, your ambition, or something else is preventing you from giving yourself the gift of time.


You’re right. There is some truth to this.


Your baby needs you. If you don’t show up to work you could get fired. You don’t want to live in a mess of a home or stop working on your dreams.


The answer is to start small. Create a value mission guide. Then slowly schedule in larger windows of time to gift yourself.


Start small: Give yourself five minutes minutes twice a day, once in the morning, and once in the late afternoon.


EVERYONE can find five minutes to gift themselves. 


Take those five minutes and select something off of your joy list (and avoid anything digital for these five minutes). 


Step outside and listen to the birds. Feel the sun on your face. Do some yoga at your desk at work to suffuse yourself with a jolt of well-being. Sip a coffee and laugh with someone. Lay down flat on the floor and bring your attention to your breath for a five-minute meditation. Read an inspirational book for your five minutes.


Allow yourself to fully go into these five minutes. Don’t think about the work you need to do afterward. Release worry, or frustration, and all negativity. Give yourself a five-minute holiday from everything. Be here, now. 


Go fully into the five-minute holiday and you will come back out feeling rejuvenated. After two weeks of taking your five-minute time holiday, you’ll get more work done afterward. You’ll feel more peaceful and balanced.


Create a value mission guide. Know YOUR Priorities.


Then slowly schedule in larger windows of time to gift yourself.


Wisihing you radiant health, joy, and abundance, Heather

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