Growingfree SimpleLife

03/05/2025

03/03/2025

Those who are in positions of power in this world,
politicians, TV personalities, business as well as religious leaders, are completely identified with their role,
with a few notable exceptions.

They may be considered VIPs,
but they are no more than unconscious players in the egoic game,
a game that looks so important yet is ultimately devoid of true purpose.

It is, in the words of Shakespeare, “a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”

02/27/2025

“Self-awareness is a supreme gift, a treasure as precious as life. This is what makes us human. But it comes with a costly price: the wound of mortality. Our existence is forever shadowed by the knowledge that we will grow, blossom, and, inevitably, diminish and die.” ~ Irvin D. Yalom

“Peace is not a place that we can find outside of ourselves… If we truly want to experience peace.. we need to stop looking for it to appear in our exterior world and begin to create it within our own personal lives." —Sandra Brossman

“Under the influence of great fear, almost everybody becomes superstitious.
Collective fear stimulates herd instinct, and tends to produce ferocity towards those who are not regarded as members of the herd.
Fear generates impulses of cruelty, and therefore promotes such superstitious beliefs as seem to justify cruelty.
Neither a man nor a crowd nor a nation can be trusted to act humanely or to think sanely under the influence of a great fear.” ~Bertrand Russell

About Eric
Eric is a Writer / Published Author / Practicing Poet & Photographer
Reiki Master / Flower Farmer / Life Coach
Real Estate Developer / Apartment Operator
Modern Elder / Nomad / Entrepreneur

Find Eric’s Books, Courses & Coaching Offerings here; https://linktr.ee/ericurbane
Find Eric’s Photos here; https://growingfreesimplelife.picfair.com/

Need Help with Your Transition?
First Coaching Session is FREE,......
-Message Me Here
-Text/Call 248-767-4460
-eMail [email protected]
-One on One Coaching Sessions
-Help with Your Transition or Retirement Plan
-Help with Your SideHustle
https://linktr.ee/ericurbane

02/24/2025

"You are not your role. You are something deeper than that. So, go into the forest or some place alone in nature, all by yourself, and find out who you really are!
And when you no longer confuse yourself with your particular temporary body, but identify with the entire process of nature and the whole cosmos, a funny thing will happen.
Death comes, and will find no one to kill.” ~ Alan Watts

"Your suffering is never caused by the person you're blaming."

Blame is an easy escape, but it never leads to freedom and encases you in a prison of false perception. It’s tempting to believe that suffering is caused by someone else—that their words, their actions, or their choices are the reason for the pain.

But what if the real source of suffering isn’t what they did, but the way it is perceived, processed, and held onto?

The mind has a way of creating narratives. It builds stories around pain, assigning fault and attaching emotions to past wounds.

But the moment blame is given away, power is also given away. Blame keeps the focus outward, waiting for someone else to change, apologize, or make things right. But what if peace doesn’t depend on their actions? What if it has always been an internal choice?

No one can control how others act. People will make mistakes, they will be unfair, they will disappoint. But what happens next—the response, the emotions carried forward, the way the situation is interpreted—is entirely within personal control.

And this is where true strength lies: in realizing that suffering isn’t created by the external, but by the attachment to what cannot be changed.

Personal accountability is not about excusing others—it’s about reclaiming power. It’s the understanding that while pain is real, suffering is optional. It’s the choice to see difficult situations as lessons instead of burdens, to shift perspective from victimhood to growth. The world will not always be kind, but inner peace is not determined by external forces.

Letting go of blame is not about denying hurt; it’s about refusing to let it define the future. When responsibility is taken for thoughts, reactions, and emotions, life no longer feels like something that happens *to* you, but something shaped *by* you.

Freedom begins the moment responsibility is claimed. The choice is always there: to remain bound by blame or to step forward in strength. In the end, the only true control is over oneself, and that is where real peace is found.

About Eric
Eric is a Writer / Published Author / Practicing Poet & Photographer
Reiki Master / Flower Farmer / Life Coach
Real Estate Developer / Apartment Operator
Modern Elder / Nomad / Entrepreneur

Find Eric’s Books, Courses & Coaching Offerings here; https://linktr.ee/ericurbane
Find Eric’s Photos here; https://growingfreesimplelife.picfair.com/

Need Help with Your Transition?

First Coaching Session is FREE,......
-Message Me Here
-Text/Call 248-767-4460
-eMail [email protected]
-One on One Coaching Sessions
-Help with Your Transition or Retirement Plan
-Help with Your SideHustle
https://linktr.ee/ericurbane

Eric is an Entrepreneur, and lives a Nomadic Lifestyle and is an OffGrid Practitioner. He is also an Instructor for Melina Emerson Small Biz Lady and an Adjunct Instructor at Drexel University. Eric is well seasoned in urban housing development.

02/24/2025

02/24/2025

“Happiness is not something that you can find, acquire, or achieve directly. You have to get the conditions right and then wait.

Some of those conditions are within you, such as coherence among the parts and levels of your personality. Other conditions require relationships to things beyond you: Just as plants need sun, water, and good soil to thrive, people need love, work, and a connection to something larger.

It is worth striving to get the right relationships between yourself and others, between yourself and your work, and between yourself and something larger than yourself. If you get these relationships right, a sense of purpose and meaning will emerge” ~Jonathan Haidt

02/21/2025

HouseMates/Co-Living

Three houses and a shared accessory building make up this innovative use of an infill lot in central Austin, Texas

02/21/2025

Does HouseMates/Co-Living deliver social regeneration of hyper local areas, We certainly think so,.......
This IS Living the Growingfree SimpleLife

☕ Providing spaces, resources and events which are available to the local communities they are located in,
🌆 Contributing to affordable housing provision through affordable homes, discount market rent homes, or cash-in-lieu contributions to the local authority,
👷🏼‍♀️ Attracting urban professionals and key workers who may choose to stay in the area longer term and creating good quality local jobs.

Co-living can enhance social connection and resident wellbeing, which contributes to healthy and happy neighbourhoods. It does this through:

🎉 Regular events which include engagement with local neighbourhoods, volunteering opportunities, and a range of activities to suit different interests and needs,
👩🏾‍❤️‍👨🏼 Design which facilitates social interaction through inviting and varied communal areas and the creation of natural “collision” points and opportunities for interaction,
❗ The practices of resident-facing staff, including encouraging residents to socialise, and taking time and care to look after resident wellbeing and safety.

The article argues that co-living has a strong potential to achieve high levels of social impact, and should be a standard component of a healthy housing mix in urban areas.

This article explores the potential for co-living to contribute towards urban regeneration, and have a positive impact on residents and their neighbours.

02/19/2025

Rest in the still point of this turning world is always available

A devotion to take off all the covering

Authenticity floats to the surface as a lonely raft

This has nothing to do with your story

Value is an awful word to place on anything

What has more value the in breath or the out breath

We come to edge of ourselves while impermanence never takes a break

02/18/2025

Things to Think About as we Traverse this Growingfree SimpleLife

02/18/2025

Transformation on the Urban Fringes
While ecovillages offer comprehensive frameworks for sustainability, the concept of "pocket neighborhoods" provides a glimpse into how even small-scale design interventions can spark meaningful change. Unlike conventional neighborhoods, where private yards and public streets create invisible barriers, pocket neighborhoods blur these lines. Semi-public spaces encourage interaction while preserving privacy, demonstrating that modest design shifts can cultivate a sense of belonging and shared responsibility.

Ecovillages offer a scalable model for sustainable urban neighborhoods, fostering social cohesion and environmental stewardship in cities.