I am continually inspired by the life led by the Dalai Lama. Seeing his face alone is calming. I was thinking today about this book - The Wisdom of Forgiveness. It left something special with me - a vivid image that I carry to remind me of all the things that are truly important in life, the things the Dalai Lama lives every day. I'll try to capture the spirit of that special image here.

The Dalai Lama was visiting the town of Bodhgaya to pay respects to Buddhism's holiest shrine. He was there beneath the shadow of the bodhi tree, a descendent of the one the Buddha achieved enlightenment under. He and a large crowd of Tibetan monks were there to participate in the ritual of sojong - confession. The author describes in vivid detail how the Dalai Lama managed to "accordion himself" into the smallest form of what many yoga enthusiasts know as child's pose, and what the book refers to as "pure humility". Then this sentence pulled the vision together..."With his yellow patchwork robe stretched across his back, he looked like a large golden turtle amid a sea of others."

It is this image that I carry with me - reminding me of the importance of humility, confession, compassion, happiness. Many years back after hearing me talk about this, Rachel & Veronica gave me a small, brass (golden) turtle. I always keep it close by as a reminder that life if so much greater than the day-to-day things we have to deal with. As 2009 approaches and I know there will most certainly be difficult things ahead, I can remind myself through the vision of the golden turtle the teaching of the Dalai Lama - that the formula for happiness is emptiness plus compassion.

These are the things I ponder.