Nairobi Woman Representative Esther Muthoni Passaris has opened up about the personal values she relies on to cope with the demands of politics and public life, saying spirituality, self-awareness and having clear goals have helped her remain focused through difficult moments.
Speaking on Radio Generation's Generation Report on Monday night, Passaris said her approach to life had been shaped by years of personal experiences and an evolving understanding of spirituality.
She said she does not strictly identify with one religion, but instead draws lessons from different faiths while placing love and humanity at the centre of her beliefs.
“What grounds me is I'm very spiritual. I'm not religious, but I'm spiritual. I think spiritual in the sense that I love all religions. So whether you're Muslim, whether you're Hindu, whether you're Christian, I just believe in universal love,” she said.
Passaris said her understanding of spirituality has changed over time, starting with her Catholic upbringing before she encountered evangelical Christianity and later embraced spiritualism.
“I came up with the Catholic faith, and then I got into evangelical, and then I got into spiritualism. Spiritualism is about knowing thyself, recognizing that you're a soul, you're made in God's image, you are here for a short period of time,” she said.
The Nairobi legislator said she believes people should not make religion more complicated than necessary, arguing that faith should promote love, humanity and peaceful living rather than division.
“Religion is like a buffet table. You go and you pick what works for you, and what resonates with you. I think as humans, we've made God very complex, to the point that we can kill and say it's in God's name, and religion has caused wars and deaths,” she said.
Passaris said love remains the main value behind her understanding of spirituality, a belief she said has helped shape how she looks at life and deals with challenges.
She also spoke about the pressure that comes with being a woman in politics, where public figures can face close attention not only over their work but also their private lives, appearance, careers and personal beliefs.
For Passaris, managing such pressure requires paying attention to one's state of mind and finding ways to remain calm during difficult periods.
She said gospel music is one of the things she turns to when she needs to manage stress and regain her focus.
The legislator also cautioned against allowing negative thoughts to take control, saying the mind can influence both behaviour and decisions.
“Life can be so stressful, and the mind is the devil's playing field. If you are left to your thoughts, your thoughts create things. Your thoughts can make you do good. Your thoughts can make you do bad,” she said.
Beyond spirituality and music, Passaris said her outlook on success has been shaped by her family background and the gradual economic progress her parents made.
She rejected the impression that she had grown up wealthy, saying her family's financial position improved over time through hard work and careful planning.
“We didn't start off rich. My father was earning 2,000 shillings when he met my mum, and he worked hard. We stayed in rented houses before eventually my father and mother bought a house,” she said.
Passaris said the experience taught her that financial success is not always immediate and that people should be prepared to work towards their goals over time.
She similarly described her own journey in Nairobi as a gradual process rather than one marked by sudden success.
“It's not like we just woke up and we were rich. It's a process. It's a process, and you have to have a plan,” she said.
The Nairobi Woman Representative urged young people to set clear goals and make deliberate choices about the direction they want their lives to take.
She said having ambitions without a clear sense of direction can make it difficult for people to know what they are working towards.
“If you have no goals, then you have no direction.”
Her remarks brought together several aspects of her personal approach to dealing with public life, from spirituality and self-awareness to music, planning and goal-setting.
Passaris said these principles have helped her deal with stressful periods while keeping her attention on the wider goals she has set for herself.
Her reflections also touched on the wider demands faced by people in politics and other high-pressure careers, where professional responsibilities can be accompanied by intense public attention.
For Passaris, staying grounded means understanding oneself, maintaining a sense of purpose and recognising that personal progress is a process rather than an overnight achievement.