why i'm not asking jesus for answers

In response to your BIG, DEEP, HEAVY question about why you feel I am not asking Jesus aka "The One" for answers...

(This video is of the Everest region of Nepal which is Tibetan Buddhist with a Hindu soundtrack of worship to Shiva)

Your question is an incredibly valid one and I am grateful to you to have bravely - despite anonymously - brought it to my attention. As you can imagine on my travels I come across many different codes of conduct; Hindu, Buddhist, Christian, Muslim, Shamanism, Naturists, etc. And just the other day I sat chatting on the train to Exeter with a lovely gentleman/academic who was a writing paper on Muslim philosophy which was so fascinating.

With a mind that loves philosophy and having been an avid wanderer in my time (as you so rightly called out) I’ll say what I feel is the best way to answer this question at this present moment; although I would like to caveat that like much of the essence of ‘knowing’, is still subject to change like seemingly everything in my life; “Wisest is she who knows she does not know” as some wise guy said. I'll back that.

From my own experience, I can’t say I follow or believe in one religion over another now. I have very much connected with Buddhism in the past and have a tattoo of a Tibetan mantra on my foot from a special trek I did in Nepal 2011 that represents compassion and I like the idea of non-clinging and Karma Yoga. And each faith has its merits in teaching us all to be better conditioned people after being beautifully damaged or psychologically disturbed by the histories of family, genetics, society, the world around us blah blah blah and thus can inspire in us a love, devotion and forgiveness for another, for abandoning us for example, that sometimes; if it were not for faith would be hard to come by.

I believe in ONE-ness. The unity consciousness. The One Love that Bob Marley sings about. The ying-yang that creates the virtuous circle and unity between the dualities of perceived dark and light, the good and bad. The realisation that one might not know one without the other. I believe that God’s essence or Jesus as you might say (who to me represents joy and love) is within us all and by serving the greater good of mankind we are in turn serving ‘oneself’.

On a very conditioned and amusing level I can explain why I have avoided - to some extent - Jesus Christ the Superstar. When I was 14, my mother became a "Born Again Christian". She’s Venezuelan, has Catholic roots and now believes that she is her own temple. Her name's Eglee which translates to 'Church' in French so it was all pretty obvious and she got there in the end. Brilliant. However, back then, she relentlessly pressured me to go to this concrete place of worship because her fellow Born Again village friends saw it as good behaviour. This pissed me off no end. Firstly, I didn’t want to get up early on a Sunday and secondly the day she did persuade me to attend in order to make her look like a good Christian; was also the day that the man at the alter started spieling stuff about how “Gays are unnatural” and as you have read - I don't subscribe to this view and thankfully nature has proven this to be an incorrect perspective (many animals have same sex or at least try to - perhaps those Greek Gods were right!), but I didn’t like this at all. In fact, I recall my school friend Fliss and I walking out as ‘nature called’. Meanwhile someone in the church started having a divinely inspired praise the lord moment, which was like a scene out of The Exorcist. For 14 year old me - that was just weird and scary.

So the following Sunday when mum tried to get me to go to church again; I sat on the ledge of my windowsill, quite dramatically, crying in my hormonal state and threatened her that I would jump out my window and kill myself (or badly damage myself) if she forced me to go.  It took that much persuasion to have her let me lie in and respect my views. The church did however succeed in persuading my Mum to marry her boyfriend that she wasn’t ready to commit her whole life to as otherwise she was having to sneak him in to the house in case the church-goers living opposite saw. So now she’s twice divorced and in those circles might be made to feel ashamed of it. Pity because she’s more awesome than ever.

As you probably know Anon; keeping a life-long promise is no walk in the park and people need to learn in their own time, not through peer pressure, when to make that kind of commitment to their word. So essentially she was being made to feel ashamed for her love in that 'organised religion' and that's just as common in other religions too. So that's my Christian connection. But there's a lot I do like about Christianity. I especially love church bells. They’re like giant healing singing bowls and I think the idea of a high building to remind everyone that “God is watching” is a nice reminder to have. My version was to get my mates phone, change my name on it to GOD and text the very same "I can see you" much to both our amusement. I really like the beautiful 'crafted with devotional love' steeples. Perhaps that's why I love La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. Visited 3 times. Still not bored.

I suppose with me, right now, I believe in spirit. The power of inspiration. The genius. But that is something one can only see through experience. What many might term a ‘spiritual experience’. Something that words can only point to but if you are unfortunately as inquisitive as I am and want to appease an inner “But Whhhhhhyyyy?” most the time you might be able to get to the roots of. Exhausting work. If only I listened to Lennon and just 'let it be'. When this spiritual experience happens you might want to humbly attribute it to a God or perhaps, as in my case 'freak out' before eventually doing what Carl Jung or a Yogi might say and “surrender” to the unconscious. Like that Jesus on the cross moment “Forgive me father for they know not what they do” or in my case “Forgive me folks for I knew not what I was doing” because people are unconsciously behaving a certain way. We all do it and it sucks but we need to learn right?

My "God" is what the tribes too remote for organised religion have: my heart and I am learning to have faith in this big bad-ass heart of mine although admittedly its hard when it takes a battering or two. There are some cruel things happening in this world right now, its like self-harm(!) and I am a big softy under the bad-ass "I am fine alone" exterior.

I did go through a short-lived phase of preaching and I didn’t like myself very much; nor did my mates. I felt very inauthentic and this feeling of ‘holier than thou’ was stupid. Psychologists might call it co-dependency which is world endemic. A need to be needed or trying to fix others. It started to resemble a ‘spiritual arrogance’ like I was the Queen's Mother or something and I believe NOW that this takes away the biggest learning one could grasp from any true and loving religion or better termed in my world ‘inspiration’; that we are equal. That we “were made in his image”. That we are all special. This is very hard to deal with when you see people hurting themselves and your inner superhero wants to save them. You can't evidently.

As a rather open-minded spiritual tourist; I have connected with Jesus and the Virgin Mary a few times symbolically so you know. I actually met a guy who was having his born again moment and I felt like an abandoned mother. The same guy I fell in love with and experienced a sense of rejection from. I also went to an amazing gospel church in Antigua and was the only 'white person' there. The pastor said “who’s ready to surrender to whatever it is you are here on Earth to do?” – I was like “Yes. Please. Finally. Lets do this God!”. Next thing I know I am being hustled from the back row to stand at the front with a handful of others in a massive room of people. God has a marvellous sense of humour and loves a dramatic backdrop while also embarrassing the hell out of me in public. So I surrendered and the next thing I knew I was crying with a big beautiful black lady hugging me from behind. Always good to know a sister has my back. Wonderful little scene it was and the energy in that room was incredible. I was buzzing.

And so now I feel like I am living "Gods will" which is just being who I am. I am happy to be “a channel of his peace” and I always was. Don't we all wish for that deep down? I share love in my own way. I keep a blog for entertainment. I share my toys. I try to protect nature (she’s my version of Virgin Mary), I do massages, practice yoga and meditation and I pray for peace in the world. I am also not perfect. I can lose my way and I have learned to ask for help without feeling ashamed. I have said the 'wrong' thing many a time. I also love the mystery of life, flowers, alternative medicine and have a strong intuition which once upon a time, if a Christian knew, would have me burned at the stake and called a witch! Which in my opinion is not very equal and loving at all, especially if women are a representation of Mother Nature or like 'a man with a womb'. Come on people!

I also had the best trek with a fellow traveler to Everest Basecamp who had been brought up in an Evangelical Christian community and carried her heavy bible with her on the high altitude trail. The two best moments (beyond arriving at Basecamp and sharing Hobnobs of course) were when she was sharing passages out of the bible – I am a big fan of the ‘what is love’ verses -  as my Tibetan Buddhist monk friend, Pasang, sat there uncomfortably as though one were a threat to the other.

The second best moment was when we went to this beautiful bridge (above) aligned with prayer flags and both Krista and I tied flags on it making prayers for those we love so that the wind could blow those messages to ‘God’. We had just walked by a very commercial part of the trail and really craved Mars Bars but were on a tight a budget (no ATMs) so we couldn’t have overpriced Mars Bars. I said to Krista “this would’ve been the perfect spot to eat our Mars Bars” and pretended to eat one as a joke. We crossed the bridge. Then a very lovely guesthouse owner who had met us at high altitude on Krista’s birthday freezing cold and soaked in rain walked past us at super duper Nepali speed. As they do. We smiled, said “Namaste” (which translates to “I see God in you”) and moments later he spun round and gave us two Mars Bars. Now there my friend is Holiness. Krista laughed – “Well God certainly has a sense of humour” as we ceremoniously tucked in to our gifts, sat on a rock and admired the beautiful unspoilt nature around us.

I feel our beliefs have a very strong interpretation on our reality. It's a bit like advertising. And to see things truly I feel, we have to do a pretty good job at de-cluttering the space within and out. Kinda zen-like-present-moment-I-love-myself and let go of my past work. 

So I love The Universe, or God, or the world. Lets all be peaceful and awesome to each other and enjoy gifts in epic landscapes. More love and forgiveness of our 'stories' would go down pretty well right now whatever your colour, sexual orientation or religion.

I hope that's a fair and entertaining answer. The shortcut: Love is my religion and I express it through my actions aka. Karma. Not always perfectly but I'm always learning how to do it better.

And by the way, what a divinely timed question Anon. Next week I am doing a very special pilgrimage with my Mum: El Camino de Santiago in Spain. Stay tuuuuuuuuuned and thanks for reading me and pointing out the obvious... Big love to Jesus the Superstar... 

Along with all the other beautiful icons of worship... now try, the biggest challenge for me thus far, to love your reflection without conditions. 

Namaste Anon. Thanks again.

surviving a 'grown up' gap year(s)

I love it when I explain to people that I am travelling around the world and they respond "Oh have you just finished Uni?" Urm... nope. I'm 28 now complete with wrinkles. I was however the 'over-achiever' who believed all the lies and chased her way from Law degree to London Stock Exchange to Sydney advertising world and worked insanely hard with lots of determination to succeed. Ambitious little number I was but one that lost sight of her dreams.

That said I needed to work; I had a ridiculous amount of student debt to tackle and a ruthless determination not to depend on my parents for financial support after University. So my gap year was belated and aptly timed with my quarter-life crisis that involved breaking up with an amazing boyfriend and best-friend, leaving my wonderful mates, the beach view apartment and quitting my career in time to miss the award ceremonies whilst obsessively taking up Bikram yoga and herbal tea wondering what the hell I truly wanted in this life (thanks to friends for showing up at this time). I remember sitting down with my boss and mentor Andrew Wynne, after being at the company for a mere 9 months, explaining 'I have to go' as being one of the scariest things I'd ever done in my career. Incredibly and much to my surprise he said 'we'll have you back when you're done Jess'.

My 'gap year' has been more of a giant poop-my-pants leap year. And actually not really a gap year at all as it nears plural status. However, I can say that at 26 years old, my decision to leave pretty much everything to go on a journey of self-discovery and adventure until I 'run out of money' has been the best possible gift to myself. Incredibly frightful nevertheless especially as I initially allowed my inner child to take the reins. A bad-ass tomboy who likes extreme sports, rolling in nature, doing crazy things like getting lost up mountains, hanging out with rebels and inevitably one that had to relive a sense of self-abandonment. Strength in adversity proved true.

Being the change I wanted to see in the mountains

Nevertheless, self-psychosis aside, one thing I have realised is the limited ideas we can have when it comes to money. This question comes up a lot with people; "how do you afford it?". Well simply put: I give but not with money in mind. More for fun actually. It feels good to give doesn't it? And giving is more than money, its life's most valuable asset; time and effort.

By living in the giving and being detached from what comes back; This is how I feel I've walked into abundance. Of course money is practical, and a means of survival in this material world, but it is not the only thing we can offer in exchange for a positive experience in life. In fact, just being awesomely true to oneself and others has its benefits; people actually enjoy your company for one thing! And working from the heart on projects gives a natural high (look how much I am buzzing in this pic!) and genuinely giving a damn about the world in a hands-on way can reward in ways that transcend the illusion of 'give to get'.

I remember locals asking me whether I got paid to collect garbage (read my little PR rant here) and were somewhat confused when I said no, I do it for love (and garbage on the path kinda pisses off this British earth mother). And for me, obviously, it really isn't about making money - that's what I did to afford the journey in the first place and I'm committed to keep traveling until it runs out so I may as well make myself useful. Miraculously, it seems to stretch the less I worry about it and the more humbly I live. Importantly I've also learned to accept the kindness of others; which is difficult when pride kicks-in. I'd say the biggest miracle had to be when my tax accountant emailed me to say that I didn't have to pay him his fees and for me to see it as a contribution to my travels. When your tax accountant says that - you get busy!

If you are blessed enough to live within the top 5% of the world's richest (if you're reading this, that is likely to include you) then I hope this message resonates on some level. Some of the most inspiring people I have met were happy to trade their services or just happy to give in anyway they could. In fact the lovely circulation of seasonal clothing in the backpacker community is really awesome as is couch-surfing and that doesn't go to mention my surrogate family in Parvati family who were so humble that my heart is still broken.

I have also realised that real friends are the ones that want to see you shine. And I hope in a way I can make that happen for 'my crew'. I've loved being a photographer on adventures, making videos, offering strategic communications advice or just showing up when my intrepid soul brothers and sisters could do with a chat, cuddle, bed or a cook up.

You see something I have learned is true appreciation for life before anything else. The mere opportunity to be alive is pretty awesome not to mention to be born in a developed nation. Then I could go in to the things I am super grateful for: my family, friends and also importantly; me. I have truly proven to myself that I can grab life by the balls on my own. Eeeeek! Well ‘alone’ is really figuratively speaking as ‘no man is an island’ however, I have to remind myself that all I am left with is a bit of courage when things don't go to plan, I get seriously sick or my heart gets broken.

My surrogate family in remote Himalayas

And living a remarkable life does take the courage to face a lot of fears while learning to endure discomfort whether its cockroaches, an armpit of an Indian man on a local train, getting my backside pinched on a tourist bus, falling childishly in love with someone who doesn’t love me the same way, singing to an audience, racing boats in regattas, crossing the Atlantic as a chef(!) or presenting an online TV show. Yup. I actually experienced those things. All instances where I have had a daemon on my shoulder telling me some stupid story to take my power away as I faced some darker emotions that people don't see in the highlights reel: loneliness, vulnerability and shame.

Like kryptonite to Superman's soul the toxic self-talk and uncomfortable situations did nothing less than drag me down and yet challenge me once again to keep going when all I wanted was to hide away somewhere or 'fly home to Mum'. And no word of a lie, while I love a challenge there comes a point where peaceful surrender becomes the best resort to the battle. To embrace Lennon and let it be. To rise to the challenge with faith that whatever will be will be and work really bloody hard at ensuring that each day is still fully lived and each lesson is learned. That I show up to life despite its 'moments' and keep being positive because there's always something to smile about.


Traveling alone can be hard as hell. I’ve missed my family, my friends, my home comforts, my mind at times and I’ve even missed having a man to share those romantic moments with. However I know I have given myself space and time to get to know Jess, I've made some wonderful friends and learned to take full responsibility for 'me and my story'.

There are times when I really just want to find a base and hide away in a cave of comforts, a nice wardrobe, some pretty jewellery, a network of stable friends on my doorstep, have my family on call, my own kitchen(!), the routine and security of a 9-5 job but then I remind myself I have lived that life and will have the rest of my life to live it again one day.  So I'm keeping the dream alive while the Universe invites me to and working very hard to share as much kindness on the way while preserving my sanity i.e. knowing when to walk away. That to me is a much more powerful currency than money and a powerful thing to trust in through personal experience. Sadly an intellectual understanding of karma, philosophy and wise idioms didn't cut it for me… I had to learn it myself through some raw experiences.

So that's how I've survived my relentlessly changing and challenging world. The non-stop scenery and costume change of these last 22 months. I hope my sentiments aren't too self-indulgent. Perhaps they are. I have to write my ramblings somewhere and crazily people read my drivel (thanks if you made it this far).

But perhaps these words might even inspire someone to take life by the balls too, to follow their heart, live and give a little if not A LOT without being afraid of scarcity. 

G'waaaaan, what's the worst thing that can happen? 

It's not like we're getting out alive.

“Indeed our hearts are golden treasures, but a true tragedy would be to conceal your inner gold because you are afraid of someone stealing it or it falling and breaking. There is no love in fear. The great wisdom of the ages always tells us the more we Love the more of it you receive. Love is not a giving or a taking, it is a state of being – a one way street of allowing, accepting and holding a space for all things to be exactly as they are. 

Fear not that your heart will be broken or stolen. Love becomes love. Give it away with no expectation of return and soon you will be having a love affair with the whole world!” - Jackson Kiddard, author & polymath.

How to find out the truth...

Baloney Detection from Richard Dawkins, writer of The God Delusion.



Its so difficult to know what piece of information is true or false. I find myself instilling so much faith in to the ideas of my friends and family because I trust them, but its always important to remember that not everyone finds the "truth" through science and we all know what happens when you play Chinese whispers.

I like this idea, I don't apply this massively to some of my ideas, admittedly, sometimes I feel driven by instinct. But I think that's a fundamental characteristic of human beings and I like learning from my own experience too.