I’m off to New York City this weekend for a three-day teaching with His Holiness the Dalai Lama. HHDL will teach on a powerful, 1,000-year-old text called the “Blade Wheel of Mind Transformation.” I fully expect it to be one of the most significant milestones on my path. I’m leaving straight from work to Union Station this evening to catch Amtrak to Manhattan.

So I’m in a cab this morning on my way to the office, and the cabbie looks at my luggage and asks me what I’m doing this weekend. I explain.

“You mean that Indian dude who goes around in a robe telling people to be happy?” he asks in a serious voice.

“That’s the one.”

“Well, I’ll save you the time and expense of going to New York and tell you what happiness is all about. Do you know what happiness is all about? Do you what makes me really happy?”

“You got me, sir. What makes you happy,” I said.

“When the Redskins win. That’s all it takes. When the Redskins win, I’m happy all week long,” he said, making eye contact with me in the rear-view mirror to see if I was listening. His voice was deadly serious.

“But what if I don’t like football?” I asked.

The cabbie shook his head slowly, casting his gaze back on the roadway ahead.

“Then there’s no hope for you. You better make sure you get to New York to see that Dolly Lami person.”