Sloww

| The Art of Living for Students of Life

Sloww Stage 1: How do I design a lighter life?

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This is post 1 of 4 in the series. You can jump to the other three posts:

Stage 1 Contents: Click a link here to jump to a section below

Sloww Stage 1: How do I design a lighter life?

An Overview of Stage 1

Stage 1 Key Question:

  • “How do I design a lighter life?” 

Stage 1 Student Focus:

  • Shifters: downshifting to slower, simpler, intentional living.

Stage 1 Description:

  • Life is busy and cluttered. Sloww supports slowing down in a fast world because slowing down is the gateway to all things good—which aren’t things at all. “Things” like intentionality, unbusyness, less stress, simplicity, enough, lightness, reflection, deep thinking, purpose, meaning, connectedness, centeredness, mindfulness, and awakening. Sloww encourages lighter living because more hasn’t added to our lives—we must subtract the superficial “stuff” (physical clutter and mental-emotional clutter) and shift inward where we can meet life face-to-face. This first stage is all about the initial paradigm shift: growing inwardly vs outwardly, qualitatively vs quantitatively. Slowing down and simplifying are stage 1—creating the space for all the transformation that comes next.

Stage 1 Posts (Full List)

You can see my own personal progression through stage 1 by skimming a summary of posts 1-100 on the site.

Note: Links with a lock icon (🔒) go to a Premium post.

Posts on Busyness, Unbusyness, Slow Living, & The Slow Movement

Busyness & Unbusyness:

Slow Living & The Slow Movement:

More Slow Living Books, Essays, & Letters:

Slow Everything Else:

Posts on Downshifting, Voluntary Simplicity, & Simple Living

Downshifting:

Voluntary Simplicity:

Simple Living:

Posts on Decluttering, Minimalism, & Digital Minimalism

Decluttering:

Minimalism:

Digital Minimalism:

Posts on Understanding Money & Financial Independence

Understanding Money:

Financial Independence:

My Relationship with Money:

Posts on the Work-Spend Cycle, Workweek, Knowledge Work, & Transcending Work

Waking up from the Work-Spend Cycle:

Questing the Workweek:

Modern Knowledge Work:

“Total Work” & Transcending Work:

Posts on Lifestyle Design, Life Roles, & MEDS

Introduction to Lifestyle Design:

Considering your Life Roles:

MEDS (Meditation, Exercise, Diet, Sleep):

Posts on Habits, Picking a Path, Making Progress, & Time Management

Habit Building (& Breaking):

Picking a Path:

Making Progress on Your Path:

Time Management:

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About Kyle Kowalski

👋 Hi, I'm Kyle―the human behind Sloww. I’m an ex-marketing executive turned corporate dropout and solopreneur who found and created my life purpose after an existential crisis. Sloww is my synthesis of the world's wisdom on the art of living for students of life. Read my story.

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Comments

  1. Don Michel

    Cripes! Simple living in ten thousand steps. My simple-living system: Don’t read all those books on simple-living. We attract things according to our state of being. It’s not necessary to seek enlightenment. When you’re ready, enlightenment seeks you.

    Reply

    • Kyle Kowalski

      Simple living isn’t always so simple (or easy)! I was on anything but a simple path when I discovered the concepts of intentional living, slow living, and simple living in 2015-16. It took quite a while to unlearn and relearn (or unprogram and reprogram). Not to mention, look around! The narrative, propaganda, and advertising are all about maintaining the idea of “human as consumer.” So, even though I’m on board with a much more intentional life now, society is always trying to draw you back in…

      Reply

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