Anyone who has attended one of the Tibetan spiritual leader's talks knows that, even when he is discussing serious topics, joy radiates from the Dalai Lama.
He loves a good laugh, too: just google "Dalai Lama fart joke".
When asked for the secret to a long and happy life, he is apt to snap: "Routines."
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But most people couldn't stick to the 81-year-old's regime: he rises at 3am for meditation, prayers and prostrations and goes for a walk at 5am.
During his breakfast of tsampa porridge (made from roasted barley), he listens to the BBC news. He has his last meal of the day at 5pm, in accordance with monastery rules, and at 7pm he's off to bed.
Contentment comes from cultivating a calm mind, having compassion for others and finding a life purpose, he says.
No stranger to social networking, the Dalai Lama says on Google+ that his life is guided by three major commitments: "The promotion of basic human values or secular ethics in the interest of human happiness, the fostering of inter-religious harmony, and the preservation of Tibet's Buddhist culture - a culture of peace and nonviolence."
His friends Archbishop Desmond Tutu and actor Richard Gere are ageing gracefully too. Clearly, hanging out with positive people keeps you young.
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