Hot, Hot, Hot!

(This is about the song, not the weather.)

(Most of you probably know this song: it starts out with a chorus of male and female voices singing "Ole / O-le / Ole / O-le // Ole / O-le / Ole / O-le," then heads into the main part of the song. Which is a celebration of... well, they never say what it's a celebration of, which is why I'm writing this. Stay tuned, all will be revealed.)

I graduated from my healing school in Meadville several weeks ago. Twice. Once on my way to the school and the second time when I got there.

Just between you and me, I wasn't all that interested in going. It's a 350-mile trip each way, which I have to break into pieces because of my blood-clot-in-the-legs issue. And I felt sure that I knew what the graduation ceremony would be like: The head of the school would coo and gurgle niceties about how hard we had worked and how much we had grown, then we might have cookies and punch. And we'd get a certificate. And, with any luck, spend an hour chanting the Guru Gita.

And none of this appealed to me in the slightest. Except possibly the cookies and punch -- and I didn't have to drive 6 or 7 hours to get cookies and punch. But I would get to see my classmates -- possibly for the last time -- and this was a major draw.

Well, I was completely wrong about the graduation ceremony that had been planned for us. Actually, we did have cookies and punch, but that was after a wonderful and deeply gratifying graduation experience. But that's not why I'm writing this. I want to tell you about my first graduation -- the one that happened on the drive to Meadville.

So, there I am, driving along in a pretty foul mood. This was taking a lot of time, gasoline, money and whatnot, and I wasn't pleased. So I looked around -- internally and externally -- for some reason to feel good. And other than the pleasure of seeing my classmates, the ol' "internal cupboard" felt pretty bare.

Seeking an external reason to feel good about things, I turned on my car's sound system, then remembered that I had several CD's already loaded. So I picked one at random and cranked it up.

After several songs that didn't lift my spirits much, the above-mentioned song, "Hot, Hot, Hot!" started playing. Now in case you don't remember, the second thing that happens in the song -- after the "Ole / O-le / Ole / O-le" chorus -- is some guy crowing the word: "Fi-EST-a!" Just like that. And suddenly, the world changed.

I mean, like, here's this guy calling for a Fiesta for no discernable reason. And the rest of this wonderful up-beat, up-tempo song makes you a believer. Yes, it is time for a Fiesta. For no reason at all. It just is.

And just like that, I realized the folly of my thinking. I had been feeling glum looking for a reason to feel good. And all the while I had the choice of feeling good and not looking for a reason to feel glum. It was all up to me. So Hallelujah anyway!

It is not the job of the Universe to make you feel good. The Universe is filled with opportunities for you to feel good and it leaves it up to you as to whether or not you will accept the invitation.

I played the song all the way through 6 or 7 times -- sometimes laughing, sometimes weeping -- with the last chords of the last playing still echoing through the car (I like my music loud!) as I pulled into Meadville.