as a Path to Personal Growth
Sometimes, even though the world is so complex, the solutions to our challenges can actually be quite simple. As we turn to the Greeks to help us solve these challenges, we come full circle. Thousands of years ago, the Greeks led the way in discovering new ways to think and be in the world around them; today, we can turn to them once again to share their timeless wisdom about how we can live more joyful and meaningful lives.
What we find fascinating is that the ancient Greeks were leaders in holistic thinking—viewing the world from an integrated point of view, not just looking at the parts or events of our lives as being separate. They believed that nothing and no one was separate, that everything in the universe was connected. They were ahead of their time with their insights into the integration of body, mind, and spirit. (It was much later that the body and mind were viewed as separate entities, leading to what we believe are many of the issues we face in the pursuit of well-being today.)
The ancient Greeks were ahead of their time with their discoveries in the first Golden Age of Greece, some twenty-five hundred years ago. But many of us (including some Greeks of today) didn’t listen to them. We went off on our path of individualism, the never-ending pursuit of material gain and wealth, and the pursuit of technology as the primary means of connecting. We separated mind, body, and spirit. Now stressed and overwhelmed, we are trying to find our way back and the traditional Greeks are waiting for us; they are waiting to help us deal with the economic crisis, they are waiting to help us build our resilience to deal with the destruction that we are witnessing in our world today, and they are waiting to help us return to the core essence of life. In many ways, the Greeks in the villages whom we met along our journey are now ahead of their time once again.
The Pursuit of Meaning
The challenge many of us face is that we are chasing goals, such as happiness, pleasure, and power, that aren’t leading to deeper meaning in our lives. Importantly, The OPA! Way is not about the pursuit of happiness per se. Many have quoted Aristotle as saying that the goal of all human activity is to achieve happiness. As we share in chapter eight, Aristotle’s thoughts on this subject are often misquoted and misunderstood. Happiness is not the ultimate goal of life. Happiness is an emotion that is linked to pleasure but it is fleeting; it doesn’t last. We can share a happy moment when we are enjoying a good meal or a good laugh with a friend, but this emotion lasts only a short time. It is an illusion to believe that “the pursuit of happiness” will bring us a deep sense of meaning in life.
The OPA! Way is not about the pursuit of power or influence either. Power is about being strong and dominant, having (or trying to have) control over others or other things. Ultimately, though, the pursuit of power leads to emptiness because power over others or over our circumstances in life is just another illusion. Our only real power lies within ourselves. It can also be said that the pursuit of power is less likely than the pursuit of pleasure (or happiness) to lead to meaning and, for all practical purposes, is even farther removed from it.
The OPA! Way is also not about the pursuit of wealth, which in itself is a primitive form of the pursuit of power. We’ve all heard people express the idea that more wealth will bring them both happiness and meaning: “If only I had more money.” But the results of many research studies have shown that once we achieve a certain level of wealth, enough to cover the basics of life, any increase in new wealth does not necessarily result in a lot more satisfaction. In other words, doubling our money won’t bring about a doubling of meaning in our lives.
The OPA! Way is about the pursuit of meaning in our lives. Having deep meaning in our lives helps us enjoy life despite the ups and downs, the joys and the difficulties, we may experience. Meaning gives us a sense of fulfillment and a passion for life. Meaning helps us build resilience.
Meaning helps us live all of life to the fullest with enthusiasm. Meaning is the fuel that keeps the human spirit moving forward at all times, not just during the good times.
Our mission is to help you live a more meaningful life by applying the ageless wisdom of The OPA! Way paradigm and lifestyle. Throughout this book, we share our journey, our adventures, our challenges, and our learning with you. The three core lessons we discovered throughout our odyssey, along with the ways to practice them, can be found in parts two through four, under Others, Purpose, and Attitude, respectively. So, read on and discover how you can live and work with joy and meaning. OPA!
OPA! AFFIRMATION
I find joy and meaning in my life when I live and work The OPA! Way.
Connect Meaningfully with Others
Yesterday we visited the small traditional village of Vrisses, located in the mountainous central region of the island of Crete. We knew from past visits that there was only one very narrow road that wound through the village like a snake, so we chose to be respectful and park our car at the bottom of the village and walk. (We have rarely encountered another car, but if we had, we would have found it extremely difficult to reverse ours without leaving a dint in the wall of someone’s house!)
We climbed the first set of stairs and stopped to catch our breath when we reached the first landing. We continued our journey, climbing another set of stairs fashioned from a mixture of stones and concrete, using the handrail to pull ourselves up the very steep incline. When we stopped to rest again, a tiny old woman passed us, dressed in black from head to toe and laden with two bags overflowing with the greens she must have just picked from the hillside. She smiled and said, “Yiasas.” (This is a common greeting used in Greece and literally means, “To your health.”) We echoed her greeting, smiled, and realized that she was probably thirty years older and definitely in much better shape than we were from climbing these stairs on a daily basis in the fresh mountain air.
We continued our ascent and gave thanks to the person who installed the railing fashioned from old pipes, a necessity on rainy or snowy days, and, of course, for visitors like us. We turned the corner and finally reached our destination—the home of YiaYia (Grandmother) Maria. There she was, standing in the doorway of her small home, her eyes twinkling with life, all five feet of her. Of course, she was also dressed in black, the national color and uniform of older Greek women. Her silver-gray hair was tied back neatly in a bun, secured with numerous bobby pins.
“Welcome, welcome,” she said with a wide smile and outstretched arms, as she ushered us into her home, a one-room house of roughly four hundred square feet. The house was sparsely decorated with a single bed, a small
