health is wealth.

 Auda, mi abuella (my grandmother) is a Venezuelan woman who grew up in a world of poverty. Her home was a concrete shack in the busy city of Barquisimeto. Her face tells the story of a hard life and yet her smile, a softness that’s transcended it all.

I went to hug abuella as my Aunty asked her “Remember who this is madre?”  trying to light a spark in my grandma’s now deteriorating memory. She has Alzheimer’s and diabetes, two conditions that don’t bode well together.

“Yessica” I whisper in her ear quietly hinting as she holds me with her little skinny arms.

She looked at me appreciatively holding my shoulders as she took a deep look in to my eyes. ‘Something familiar is there’ her eyes say.

“Yess-i-caaa” she said to me and smiled.

I hadn’t expected my travels to take me to Venezuela but given I have roots there and it is my mother’s old homeland, it was wonderful to reconnect and see my family.

My abuella’s condition was saddening and yet, there was a peace in her presence. She was living in the constant now. The past stories, the old stuff of my mother’s hard childhood and her addiction to buying shoes had dissolved. There was something quite beautiful in that.

I gave her some paints and a pad for her to paint with. She proceeded to simply paint hearts.

“What is the most important thing in the world abuella?” I asked my grandma wondering whether she had something profound to share with me, a message of sorts from the years she’d spent living what had not been a neasy life in such an unstable country.

“La salud” she replied.

Well-being.

I have enjoyed reading much on philosophy, psychology and the metaphoric stories of religious texts and Disney movies. I’ve found meaning in the lyrics to songs and deep truths inspired from meditations and asanas but my abuella told me something very true for us all.

Health is wealth.

The word wealth is rooted in the oldEnglish translation of the word ‘health’ and there’s a truism there if I ever I wanted one. The well-being of our minds, bodies and spirits is what makes life enjoyable for us, our friends, our family and our world.

Saludos.

its all about family

The biggest and bestest lesson I have learned on my travels is the importance of family. In my world at least. Seeing how families unite together and supported one another in the remote parts of India made a huge impression on me. It was humbling.

Western society is very different. Urban environments can create fragmented experiences and expressing ourselves openly can, for societal reasons, feel "awkward". So we go it alone. Headstrong ready to take on the world. Tormenting sometimes on the inside with a reluctance to burden others with our pains.

"What are feelings without emotions?" - La Roux

I spoke to a Japanese hairdresser in Thailand who explained to me that in Japan, if a man cried, he was seen as weak. "Have you watched The Notebook?" I asked him (yes I know its cheese on toast but its a jerker). "Yes and no, I didn't cry... I just can't" replied my stylist in his camp Japanese-English accent.

I don't believe its healthy to suppress our feelings. Creative expression. A big run. A blog. A photograph. A poem. A film. A hairstyle. A campaign. A project to express unconscious frustration. A good chinwag... these are all wonderful examples of self-expression. Its no wonder that Japan is so 4-dimensional. A culture that might not recognise those who have travelled the world for over a year as their own and that only opened to foreigners in the 18th Century (the Dutch to begin with - why does everyone love the Dutch?) has a unique way of disconnecting themselves from one another. The wall is thin in my experience though - perhaps one day it'll crumble.

Seeing people who live without family or have a family that doesn't seem to understand them or care for them, really made me appreciate those that stick around even during the hard times and are there when you just need to go "eurgh....ahhhh....grrr...booo...yey".

My folks, despite my disappearing acts in to the wilderness and having pushed their love away at times, are greatly appreciated. As someone who has lived apart from them for so long, its been so important for me to get to a place of gratitude. They have historically placed expectations on me, which I suppose parents do because they feel like they know what is best for their children, but eventually, we all have to work it out for ourselves. Me not having a 'conventional' lifestyle at the moment has had the old man on edge but I think he's also realised I am a big girl despite being vertically challenged and embracing my inner Mowgli at times.

"Family is important" said the baba I stayed with in Kheer Ganga, a little worship village with hot-springs in the Himalayas when I explained how torn I was between staying to work on the recycling campaign and returning back to the UK.

Family stand by through thick and thin, near and far, sometimes we might not get on at face value, but we love one another. Its human nature.

Thankfully technology enables connectivity to pull faces, chat and catch up when there's distance between us.

Now even Venezuela has tinternet so I can also pull faces at my Abuela (grandma) who has alzeihmers and give her virtual hugs. On my last visit to Venezuela, earlier this year, I asked Abuela what the most important thing in life is, as a woman perpetually living in the present I had faith that her response would be somewhat divinely inspired.

"La salud" she replied, which translates to "well-being". 

If I could wave a magic wand and make a wish come true, it would be for the well-being of my family.

Today it is two years since I left my desk-job. Its not always easy, certainly no constant holiday and eventually I had to learn to be my own superhero, but to come to a place of gratitude for my family is quite sentimentally heart-warming in a way.

Its also my brother's 27th birthday today so I dedicate this to him.