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Sloww Sunday Newsletter 127 (Jan 1, 2023) — Rat Race of Happiness, Habits + Purpose, Taoist Parable, & More
Sloww Sunday shares creations from Sloww along with curations of fascinating finds to 10,000+ students of life. If you enjoy this issue, please help grow Sloww by forwarding the email version of this newsletter to other lifelong learners.
🌎 Lighter Living
The Rat Race of “Happiness”
Happiness is an award-winning, 4-minute film from Steve Cutts that’s worth watching if you feel like you are trapped in the rat race. It’s the story of a rodent’s unrelenting quest for happiness and fulfillment. The YouTube video alone is approaching 40M views since its release 5 years ago.
Pair with: Money Mind Manifesto: Master Your Mind from the Mental Disease of More Money
Quick reminder: Start the new year with slow living, simple living, decluttering, minimalism, and more with 25+ intentional living challenges
Explore more: How do I design a lighter life (Sloww Stage 1)?
🧭 Deeper Purpose
Stack Your Habits with Your Purpose
Habits are always a hot topic every new year. This year, why not combine habit building with purpose finding? The book Essentialism gives you the path (or your “essential mission”), and Atomic Habits gives you the processes to make progress on the path (or your “operating manual”). I just saw that Essentialism crossed 1M copies sold, and Atomic Habits crossed 10M!
Book Summary: “Essentialism” by Greg McKeown
Book Summary: “Atomic Habits” by James Clear & 🔒How to Build Effective Habits with “Atomic Habits” (+ Infographics)
🔒Premium Synthesis: “Essentialism” + “Atomic Habits” Synthesis: How to Pick a Path & Make Progress (+ Infographic)
Get the eBook: Ikigai 2.0: A Step-by-Step Guidebook to Finding Life Purpose & Making Money Meaningfully (+ Bonus Workbook)
Explore more: How do I find higher purpose (Sloww Stage 2)?
🧠 Mental Wealth
What is counterfactual thinking?
Counterfactual thinking involves creating possible alternatives to life events that have already occurred (something that is contrary to what actually happened or “counter to the facts”).
Counterfactual Types:
- Downward counterfactuals: Thoughts about how the situation could have been worse (allows for consideration of the positives of the situation rather than the negatives).
- Upward counterfactuals: Thoughts about how the situation could have been better (allows people to think about how they can do better in the future).
- Additive counterfactuals: Adding an event that did not originally occur (“I should have…”).
- Subtractive counterfactuals: Removing an event that took place (“I should have never…”).
- Self counterfactuals: Actions of the self (“I should have…”).
- Other counterfactuals: Actions of others (“The other person should have…”).
Counterfactual Combos:
- Additive + Upward = “What else could I have done to do well?”
- Subtractive + Upward = “What shouldn’t I have done so I could do well?”
- Additive + Downward = “If I went drinking last night as well, I would have done even worse.”
- Subtractive + Downward = “If I didn’t start studying two days ago, I would have done much worse.”
Learn more: Super Thinking (Book Summary | 🔒Premium Summary) and Wikipedia
Get Mini Mind: 365 Daily Emails of Bite-Size Brain Food
Explore more: How do I master the mind (Sloww Stage 3)?
☯️ Timeless Wisdom
The Taoist Farmer Parable
This famous parable is dated from the 2nd century B.C. There have been many versions over the centuries, but here’s a short clip of Alan Watts telling the story (along with the potential origins on Wikipedia). If 2022 didn’t go your way, don’t be so quick to judge it negatively. On the flip side, if 2022 did go your way, be careful jumping to the conclusion that everything is great. Good luck and bad luck create each other, and it is difficult to foresee their change. Bad luck brings good luck, and good luck brings bad luck. Accept life as it is.
“Good fortune has its roots in disaster, and disaster lurks with good fortune. Who knows why these things happen, or when this cycle will end?” — Lao Tzu (Tao Te Ching)
Explore more: How do I embody wisdom (Sloww Stage 4)?
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Go with the Sloww,
Kyle Kowalski
Synthesizer & Solopreneur
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