Shambhala Reflections – Life Lessons from Living Closer to Nature
Living at Shambhala has been a transformative experience. The Coromandel bush teaches lessons that can’t be found in cities or even on busy trails, lessons about patience, resilience, humility, and connection. Life here is immersive: you wake with the forest, sleep with the forest, and learn to navigate a world where humans are guests rather than masters.
The lessons start with observation. You notice patterns: ruru families calling after dusk, kākā navigating the canopy at dawn, pigs moving silently through undergrowth, and even on the rare occasion, the quiet wandering of feral cattle. Every sound, every footprint, every scrape on a tree tells a story. Over time, you learn to anticipate the rhythm of the forest, when possums are active, when pigs might root the soil, when birds are most vocal. Living off-grid in this way teaches attentiveness and patience.
Living off grid and at one with nature gives you the opportunity to observe the changing seasons 🍄
Another lesson is humility. The forest reminds you that you are small in the grand scheme of life. You can plan, trap, and build, but ultimately the bush has its own rules. Wild boar mark trees, cattle roam kilometres of neighbouring land, and goats slip quietly through gullies. You are a participant in this ecosystem, not a controller.
Resilience is learned through practical experience. Living in a tent for weeks while the cabin is under construction, checking traps, managing introduced pests, and adapting to weather all build resilience. The challenges are real: unexpected wildlife encounters, storms, and the physical effort of living off-grid. Yet these challenges are balanced by awe-inspiring moments, dawn sunlight streaming through trees, the call of native birds, or the stillness of a night spent beneath the stars.
Living off-grid for months in a tent while building our cabin is all about patience, resilience, humility, and connection 🐈⬛
Finally, there is a deep sense of connection. Living closely with nature fosters empathy, appreciation, and responsibility. You see the impacts of pests on the forest, the importance of conservation, and the resilience of native species when the environment is nurtured. Every effort — setting a trap, clearing a site for the cabin, observing wildlife — becomes part of a larger story of care and coexistence.
Shambhala is a place of contradictions: beauty and danger, serenity and vigilance, solitude and presence. Embracing these contradictions has taught that living closer to nature requires respect, attention, and courage. And in return, the forest gives back lessons that resonate far beyond the boundaries of this block, shaping how you see the world and your place within it.
Living close to nature has a way of changing how we see the world. 🌿
What lessons have you learned from spending time in nature or slowing down away from busy everyday life? Share your reflections in the comments, I’d love to hear your perspective.
Living in a tent in the Coromandel bush while we build our off-grid cabin provides us with lessons in patience, resilience and humility.
Life here is immersive: you wake with the forest, sleep with the forest, and learn to navigate a world where humans are guests rather than masters.
In this post, I reflect on the experience of becoming one with Shambhala, a place of vast contradictions. Embracing those contradictions requires respect, attention and more than a little courage.