My Greek Philosophy

“What the Greeks endeavored to achieve in all things was arête, that quality of excellence that results from refinement and testing in all human endeavors. Arête was an all-encompassing physical, moral, and intellectual excellence requiring a balance in life and achieved through rigorous self-discipline.
“Nothing to excess” sums up the Greek view of life, and it was for this reason that Greeks had no time for specialists. A person of arête did all things well and kept in balance. To realize a well-ordered life, a person endeavored to exercise strength and power in restraint, to value quality before achievement, and personal honor over opulence.”

Nothing to excess. Never too much family, too much friends, too much sleep, too much partying. Never too much eating, too much dieting, too much exercise, too much loafing. Never too much drinking, too much sports, too much shopping, too much homework. Never too much church, too much myspace, too much texting, too much video game. Never too much reading, too much cuddling, too much ice cream, too much dancing. Never too much crying, too much laughing, too much makeup, too much gossip. Nothing to excess.

The past few days I’ve started trying to moderate my life in as many aspects as possible. I’m trying to be physically, intellectually, spiritually, emotionally, and socially balanced. I’m slightly obsessive compulsive in that everything I do is very organized and most of it planned, but I feel productive and successful this way. If anything is slightly sloppy or spontaneous, I keep it confined in a 2-foot bubble around me. It’s proving difficult to describe the way I’m living this Greek philosophy. I’m sure most of this is mental. Had someone been watching me for the past couple weeks they probably wouldn’t be able to tell a difference between last week and the last few days, but luckily no one has been, so I can exaggerate the difference I feel as much as I’d like.