Blissology

The fairytale

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I want a fairytale. I’m not ashamed to say it. But my fairytale doesn’t involve your stock standard Prince Charming, a white picket fence, two kids and a house in the suburbs. In my fairytale we fall madly in love and travel the world having adventures and changing the world in our own special way.

My Prince Charming is two tons of fun, sustainably minded, loves all the critters big and small, and smiles often. We challenge and inspire each other to do more and be more. A life full of laughs, adventures, and stories to tell.

And they lived adventurously ever after.

jessica-nicole-griffiths-model-vacation-holiday-love-relationship-fairytale-adventure-traveltweet me @jessicaswander or find me on instagram @jessicaswanderlust

 

Dreaming my life away

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About six months ago I woke up in the middle of the night knowing exactly what I wanted to do with my life. I ripped off my covers and walked naked over to the window of the loft bedroom. I opened the window and sat cross legged staring up at the unusually starry London sky with infinite gratitude – I could feel the cold seeping in to my bones and I’d never felt so happy and so alive. It felt so surreal and like everything had just shifted in to place. Now I have something amazing to work towards – something that drives me and inspires me to do better – to be better. I am ready for the challenge.

Wish me luck wanderlusters x

 

What is Sustainability?

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We live in a world of excessive consumption, unnecessary production, that is completely full of man-made waste. Currently we are taking more resources from the earth each year than she is able to reproduce which means that sustainability has never been so important as is it right now.

So what does sustainability really mean?

The dictionary defines sustainability as the ability to be sustained, supported, upheld, or confirmed. In environmental science sustainability refers to the quality of not being harmful to the environment or depleting natural resources, and thereby supporting long-term ecological balance.

It’s currently estimated that 50,000 different plant and animal species will become extinct in the next decade – the destruction is so relentless that 60,000 plant species could be lost by 2025! Just to put that into perspective for you that is 25% of the worlds total plant life. Just imagine the effect that will have on the individual and interlinking ecosystems around the world. Not to mention the erosion, pollution, lack of food, quality of water… I could go on.

I believe we all have a responsibility to act in a sustainable way – take sustainability into consideration every day of our lives – because it affects our lives in every way – think about it when you eat – when you drink – when you travel to work – when you take a holiday – when you shop… because I know I want future generations to be able to enjoy the beauty of this world – the diversity – the people – even the food and unless we all start to shift towards living more sustainable lifestyles that just isn’t going to be possible.

I’d love to speak with you about sustainability and hear your thoughts – so please leave a comment below or tweet with me @JessicasWander.

Peace and love wanderlusters x

Stargazing – Our Amazing Universe

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I don’t think there is a person on earth that doesn’t look up to the night sky in awe. It’s just one of those things. It’s beautiful, haunting, unreachable, enchanting and mind boggling. I know I’ve often spent hours and hours just staring up at the stars and thinking just how mind-boggling it is.

We are on a tiny little planet rotating around what is comparatively a tiny ball of burning gas suspended in nothingness. We look out to billions upon billions of other stars – some of which have their own planets and moons rotating around them. We do live in a very small world. We can travel it all quite easily and see the world at our leisure. We’re all connected by this modern technology and it’s as easy for me to contact someone in Semporna as it is for me to contact someone in Australia. There are people who view my blog that are from countries I’ve never heard of before – but somehow we are all connected. That much I can grasp in my mind – but when we look to the stars we realise just how small this world is.

When we look to the stars and think of the hugeness of the universe it makes me think of the earth as a whole – no countries, no boundaries, no races or religion. We’re just one.

Chew on that thought for a while Wanderlusters. x

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One more reason why travelling changes your life.

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I had an “ah-ha moment” a few years back when I was in Bali for one of Eoin Finn’s YES (Yoga Ecology Surf) retreats.

It was the final day of the retreat and I was getting dressed for our last dinner together in one of the bigger houses. I’d already packed up my backpack in preparation to move on to beautiful inland Ubud for the next week or so and I realised just how little I had with me and just how little I actually needed.

Fast forward to November 2013 when I was packing up my bags and getting rid of all my possessions. It was absolutely liberating. I don’t want to waste money on trivial things like more handbags, ornaments, clothes, shoes, jewellery, cosmetics or perfumes. When you really think about it how much do those things actually add to your life? How many hours working did you spend to be able to afford that watch your wearing to make sure you catch your train on time? Now I’m not saying I’ve gone all minimalist and have gotten rid of all my material possessions because I haven’t. I just realised that some of the best things in life are not all that expensive and I’d rather spend my money on a grand adventure than a grand gown that will sit in my closet until I find somewhere to wear it. I’d rather work hard at what I love doing then spend each day commuting in to a job that I don’t enjoy just so I can afford the Claude Maus jacket I’ve been lusting after.

Less is almost always more,

Jessica xx

 

p.s. I always love to hear from you guys, so please leave a comment below, or tweet with me @jessicaswander

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Beaches and tire swings

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Loving being back in Koh Phangan again. We took the mopeds out for the day and discovered this little gem of a beach and this fabulous tire swing. It’s a much different experience from my last trip that’s for sure!

Earth.Body.Yoga with Eoin Finn

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Get Excited lovely humans!

My dear friend and mentor Eoin Finn has released a sneaky peek from his new DVD Earth Body Yoga

CHECK IT OUT HERE: http://vimeo.com/77073328

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Eoin is an incredible yogi, surfer, ocean worshipper, blissologist and generally an all round FUNderful human (FUN+ Wonderful… it’ll catch on I’m certain).

Going to Eoin’s YES retreat (YES stands for Yoga Ecology Surf) in Bali in November 2011 was the most incredible thing I’ve ever done for my mind, body and soul. Getting to know him and his family was just magic. His philosophy on life is awe-inspiring so I totally recommend you all go to one of his retreats or at lease check out his DVD’s and TEDx Talk.

Just spreading the bliss..

Jess.

SEE EOIN ON TEDx HEREhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsIZ69msvOQ

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Discovering my bliss video update.

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Thank you to everyone who has contacted me in regards to my initial post about discovering my bliss.

 

Hope this answers some of the questions.

 

Have a beautiful day,

 

Jess.

 

 

Discovering my bliss

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For a very Long time I believed that I just wasn’t one of the lucky ones. I didn’t believe that I had the talent, wisdom, upbringing and so on to chase my dreams and live a life of wonder. I truly believed that I was not smart enough, not good enough, not pretty enough, not tall enough, not funny enough, not charismatic enough, not dedicated enough… the list goes on and on.

As it turns out I was one of the lucky ones. I was lucky to come across some incredible people who saw in me what I didn’t see and encouraged me for the first time ever to pursue my dreams, my goals, my ambitions and create my own wonderful life free from my conditioned beliefs of what I could achieve. Problem was I didn’t really know what they were.

Two years ago if you’d asked me what I love doing I wouldn’t know how to answer you. I was way too busy worrying about everyone else in my life and what they wanted to do, what they wanted to achieve and how I could help them do that. I tried to do the “right thing” and tried to progress in my safe and secure job. Truth is that deep down I must have known that I didn’t really want to follow that path. I was the queen of self sabotage when it came to things that really didn’t mean much to me (I mean I got the grown up job wasn’t that enough?).

When I finally realised that all of my “problems” were just the result of my crappy self-image and conditioned beliefs that I’d taken on from people close me I changed. I no longer hated myself for being different from everyone else. I embraced my oddness and now I own my own “special brand of crazy” as I like to call it. This life is mine to create as I wish and I am smart enough, I am good enough, pretty enough, tall enough (I haven’t physically grown I’m still a short 5”4 ½), funny enough, charismatic enough and dedicated enough and everything else that I choose to be.

I’m still figuring out what it is that I want to do in my life and think I’ll always be exploring new ways to be happier and truly live my bliss. I’ve grown so much in the past few years that I hardly recognise myself now. I’m far more confident and outgoing then I’ve ever been, I can actually speak to people I’ve never met before at a normal volume (as opposed to mouse volume) and without going bright red and fumbling over all my words. This blog for me is sort of like medium for me to discover what it is that I truly love and to be able to share it with the world.

One of the best things I’ve done so far was to play the wish game. This utilises the law of attraction and Neuro Linguistic Programming  (NLP) techniques to break through anything that is holding you back from your wishes. The first time I played this game Gary the facilitator set me a task to do when I got home. He had me write down everything that I liked doing down in a big list. Initially it was really tough I only had about 5 things on my list and one of them was “secret one woman dance parties” which let’s be honest really isn’t something to build a new life around. But as I went on in the next few days I managed to build a massive list of all the things I loved, from there I decided to expand on that and created another list of all the things I wanted to do in my life and yet another list of all the places in the world I wanted to see. So effectively I wrote myself a bucket list. I knew that I could do everything on that list and more if I really wanted to but it gave me so many things to aim for and be excited about which was something I’d never experienced before for myself.

Now that I’ve ticked lots of things off my list and added so many more in the process I feel incredible. I still have moments of self-doubt and sometimes I temporarily revert to being every bit that awkward, embarrassed, nervous, quiet person that I once was but now when that happens I just gently remind myself that being like that is just not productive for anyone and if people don’t like the oddball that I am then it’s not really a big deal. What matters is being authentic to who I really am and if other people don’t like it then that’s fine. I’m not on this earth to please everyone as I once thought. I’m here to be me and experience my life as I want to, to share the love I have for the world with the world and live my bliss.

Since starting my journey I’ve discovered that so many people are silently going down a similar path as I was and believe that a wonderful life is just for the select few who are privileged enough to have been born with brilliance and clear goals. The truth is that everyone has their own challenges to face and their own demons to battle. I really hope that through sharing my journey I can inspire other people to really own their own experience and live their bliss by discovering what it is that they truly love.

Namaste,

Jessica.

xx

Please comment or email me if you have any questions or for more information on the wish game.

jessienicole30@hotmail.com

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This is a card from that I picked up during the wish game.

Love is all you need

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All that really matters in this world is love. I don’t necessarily mean romantic love, or love for your family and friends. Just love.

Too many of us try to define love and categorise it in to a specific relationship or even an object. But love is bigger than that. Love is what connects us all.

If you think of any great experience you’ve ever had it’s been because of love. Maybe not at first glance but if you delve deeper you’ll see that it’s just love. Only love.

Love is what drives creativity, it’s what passion is made of, it’s what makes things seem beautiful, it’s what makes us feel compassion, it’s what makes us want to travel and explore, it’s what makes giving so wonderful, it’s what makes us want to be kind, to make others laugh, and makes us crave connection to one another because it just feels so beautiful.

…I love the feeling of the sunshine on my skin…

…I love the sun which feeds us all the nurturing light we need to grow and thrive…

…I love the rain that waters the gardens, feeding the plants, and flows in to the river…

…I love the river. So beautiful. Carrying water and nutrients for miles and miles. Providing food for so many different creatures and making the world greener…

… I love the new relationships I’ve been forming. Getting to know new wonderful and inspiring people from all walks of life and expanding my experience, growing my mind and sharing wisdom and wander….

…I love the old relationships I’ve left behind. I love them for what they’ve taught me, how I’ve needed to change, and the person I’ve become because of them…

…I love the challenges I’ve faced for making me stronger…

…I love love…

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