Scott Stoll logo world traveler. A bicycle wheel and the globe symbolizes Scott's journey around the world on a bicycle.
Dalai Lama wearing a baseball hat
Dalai Lama wearing a baseball hat at the "Change your mind, change the world" panel discussion in Madison, Wisconsin.

Myself quoted with the Dalai Lama

Scott appears at minute 0:40

A philosophy of life and travel

Here is a short news clip about the Dalai Lama’s recent visit to Madison, Wisconsin. He was the guest of honor at the “Change your mind, change the world” panel discussion along with other visionaries and leaders in their field. I found the conference to be a relief that other people are thinking and working on the ideas and issues that I’ve been complaining about for years, such as people’s emotional health being the key to almost all our societal issues.

And it was the honor of a lifetime to be featured on the news. You will see a short snippet of my experience seeing the Dalai Lama. I was surprised and embarrassed to be overwhelmed with emotion, which is ironic because our society doesn’t teach us, as young students, what to do with emotions. The interview was much longer, of course. And it featured many things, including a short description of my bicycle ride through Tibet, and how I was prohibited from possessing a picture of the Dalai Lama, or risk being fined, imprisoned or exiled from Tibet myself.

Mohandas Gandhi
Mohandas Gandhi

I also found the topic of “Change your mind, change the world” coincidental and personally profound because, since the beginning of my website over a decade ago, I have said that my philosophy for traveling was: “If I could change myself, I could change the world.” As some of you who read my book know, I was quite ignorant and got myself into a lot of trouble, but I seemed to know one thing instinctively — that I must get my own feet on the ground first before I could ever attempt to pretend to know or do anything of significance. Or as Gandhi said long ago:

Be the change you want to see in the world. ~

Or as I like to remind myself: Change your self — change your world! And, I think I’d like to start by adopting the Dalai Lama’s playfulness and wearing a baseball cap to lighten the mood.

PS. For more about this event, I recommend this article by the Wisconsin State Journal.

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