The OPA! Way. Elaine Dundon

spirit by which someone offers hospitality is important. We all know the signs when someone cares: They look deeply into our eyes and take time to connect with us. They not only talk but listen, and they don’t rush the conversation. We feel genuine interest and meaningfully engaged after having had a conversation with them!

      At work, it is also important for leaders and managers to see themselves as “hosts” if they really wish to create a more human-centered, meaning-focused workplace. By taking a genuine interest in others, by understanding what is important to them, by enriching them and making them feel stronger with every interaction, members of the team will feel like they belong, that they matter, that their work matters, and that their work can be a source of meaning in their lives.

      What you do for others, you do for yourself. One good deed leads to another; favors are returned as well as passed forward. When you share the love, you put love into the universe and, in turn, you share in this universal love. This is the cycle of hospitality that is an integral part of the Greek DNA.

       Do a good deed and throw it into the sea.

      TRADITIONAL VILLAGE WISDOM

      You must give before you can receive. However, many of the Greeks we met were more altruistic in their beliefs about honoring the human spirit through hospitality. They believed in giving something without the expectation of return and without the expectation of any benefit or reward. They were simply sharing what they had, helping others. They gave openly with their hearts and spirits. They believed that the reward of a good deed comes solely from the joy in having done the deed. Indeed, we’re sure that Zeus Xenios would be very proud!

      Summary

      The Greek word philoxenia literally means “love of strangers.” So often in our travels across Greece, we experienced random acts of kindness from people who wanted to help us find our way, teach us about the traditional Greek village way of life, or just share whatever they had with us. Through their kindness, generosity, and treatment of each person as a unique human being and spirit and not simply as a transaction, we confirmed that Greeks truly believe that hospitality is in their DNA; it is an integral part of their being.