The unexamined life is not worth living

My latest Winnie the Pooh "Think, Think" thought is tied to a poem I just read: "the Buried Life" by Matthew Arnold: (It reminded me of Thoreau's 'The unexamined life')
"But often in the din of strife, there rises an unspeakable desire after the knowledge of our BURIED LIFE."

I live around buried ruins that are uncovered all the time. It is always exciting to see these fragments of buildings, mosiacs and statues that tell about the workings, minds and lives of others from the past....and find something that we can glean from their lives to improve ours.

Moving and uncovering all the collected clutter from the past 4 years in Rome has been hard. But getting rid of and giving away things and 'living small' from a suitcase gives me an opportunity to think about ONE ASPECT of my 'buried life." I know that less things equals more free time, but only after a move am I able to see how buried I am with the idea that things make me happy. I just read an article from the NY Times about a woman decided to get off the work-spend tread mill and simply her life to just 100 items. Can you imagine? While I know that is beyond my capability, I probably have 100 items just in my suitcases, it is a starting place to think about downsizing and living small and not being buried by things. A new study that was done said "that people are happier when they spend money on EXPERIENCES not material objects."

So I tried this out this past week. I walked past the shoe store with shoes ON SALE and instead went to walk through the Borghese Park. I laughed at the squirrels chasing each other and most of all marveled at pigeons sitting right next to a cat on a fence like they were the best friends in the world. Instead of sitting and shopping at Kohl's on line for kid's school clothes, I sat for 2o minutes in front of Caravaggio's "John the Baptist" at the Corsini museum, and it felt better than any pair of shoes. Later, I laid on the bed doing NOTHING but talking and laughing and watching clips of "Terrible TerriTate office linebacker" on You Tube with my kids.

Inevitably real life will kick in, my household goods will show up, and I will once again need more than the 100 things in my suitcase: I will need dishes and pans to cook with, dirt and pots to plant in, food storage, a sofa to sit on, beds and sheets to sleep in and the challenge in there is not to get buried again with things. But to live a life that is about experiences. On the TV show the Buried Life, there are 5 young men promoting the idea that we need to have lists of experiences that will enrich our lives before we are "buried" permanently at death. So here are my top 5 "Experiences" I want to do before I am buried:

1) Climb Mt. Fuji, the highest Mountain in Japan,

2) Walk the Great Wall of China,

3) Listen to an Opera in Sydney, Australia

4) Visit the Pyramids

5) Find a way to do the above with siblings and family

Realistically speaking I know I can certainly live with just 100 experiences, but 10o things is a challenge I am afraid of. And maybe that should be # 100 on my list. Then maybe I would find that "genuine self" that Matthew Arnold writes about buried under Moore than enough stuff.