A good leader is interested in finding the best way, not in having his own way.

I cannot remember where I read this, but it sure is something to remember and to live by. We all need to lead by example.

Roof top restaurant, flowers in pots. Bodhnath

I am settling in Nepal, a few days in Bodhnath first, getting over jet lag, letting the spirit catch up with the body. Then it will be time to crank up the engine and work on trek preparation with Nima and Lakpa.

I am still on Australian time. Each morning, I am awake at four am. There is something exciting about being up before the sun. After the ritual ‘three cups of tea and meditation in bed’ time, I leave my hotel at first light, walk the streets already filling up with people and dogs minding their own business.

Bodhnath Stupa is busy. Incense is burning, bells are ringing. Monks are chanting, people are catching up with each other, spinning yarns and prayer wheels. Hundreds of Buddhist Faithfuls are greeting the new day with prayers. They walk fast. A lot of them are on their way to work. Peak Hour Prayer.

Bodhnath. Peak hour prayer

Flashback: Xmas 2008, festive circambulations of the stupa with Lakpa Pemba Sherpa and her son Nuru. Each year on Christmas Day, local Christians gather at Bodhnath Stupa and do koras… I m not sure why I think of this, perhaps holding my mum’s rosary brought back the memory, the shared elation of love all around, which I am feeling now. Am I still a Catholic? It don’t matter. What matters is to embrace the teachings of all religions and philosophies concerning themselves with loving and respecting the self and others.

It is in this spirit that I become part of the morning throng, rejoicing in our voices becoming one as we send our prayers up, up and away.