By Randall Richards Living is the story of an ordinary man, reduced by years of oppressive office routine to a shadow existence, who at the eleventh hour makes a supreme effort to turn his dull life into something wonderful.
This was one of the best films I’ve ever seen. Maybe that’s because of my close brushes with death, either personally, or with family and friends who have passed on. Bill Nighy puts on a supreme performance as does his leading lady Aimee Lou Wood as do the other leading actors. The casting is top notch. The cinematography is artful and well thought through, with powerful imagery camera work throughout. Someone in our local community complained the movie is too slow, but with such weighty and important subject matter, it gives the viewer time to digest the themes and messages in the script, plus what is not said, as well is what is. Set in London in the 50’s, and based on Kazuo Ishiguro‘s story, and a remake a Kurosawa classic, it uses these two elements to amplify the lack of clear and open communication we experience more today. One almos wants to scream at the screen, telling the characters to “Open up for God’s sake”. Lastly, (spoiler alert) the timing of William’s death seems too soon in the script. Or does it? Surely he couldn’t die so early in the movie. But then, his story continues in a creative memory, so in essence he is still there for the audience. But isn’t life like that, where death comes too early or earlier than expected? I don’t think this was a haphazard construct of the movie. As mentioned in Rotten Tomatoes’ comments: Living is a movie that will leave you reflecting on the things you appreciate in your own life. It’s definitely not an action flick, but there’s plenty going on for the soul if you are willing to go there.
Gill and Peter Bacchus are masters of their craft, Biodynamics, and I was lucky enough to spend a bit of time chatting with them after their recent workshop, held in Cromwell, New Zealand. These two are well-educated and switched on to life. They’re also in tune with the how important our relationship is with the planets, stars, earth, and the food we put into our bodies. Gill is the author of “Love Your Veges” [ed: “Veggies” for you Yanks] and Peter has authored “Biodynamic Pasture Management”. with the subtitle Balancing Fertility, Life and Energy.
YOUR FOOD SUPPLY #32: The Dynamic Duo Note: (This video series started 13 years ago, while listening to the audio version of the book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, when Amanda and I were driving across the U.S. and were seeing the effects of industrial farming in real time while listening to the book.Here’s that first entry Your Food Supply #1To see the whole series, click on the category “Your Food Supply” in the category section of this blog on the right of your screen.
What struck me was, not only how informed Gill and Peter were when giving their workshop and interview, but how passionate they are about “the parts related to the whole” (physically, spiritually, with the plant kingdom, and universe) , and how we are all interconnected. I also appreciated Peter’s awareness of the bigger picture when it comes to globalist and government overreach. He’s clued in.
Gill has a long practical experience of organic vegetable and herb growing, and learning to choose a vegetable-based diet to manage health issues. She has helped children create school gardens, grow and cook vegetables and helped create community gardens. Gill has a masters in science in Soil Science and Human Nutrition and is also the author of Food Full of Life. Peter was raised on a biodynamic dairy farm and later worked as a medicinal herb grower, developing large-scale composting business. He consults widely and has held leadership position in biodynamic farming organizations. The two live near Thames on the north island of New Zealand. They can be reached at p.bacchus@farmside.com.nz and gillbacchus@gmail.com Although they do have a web domain, their website isn’t up and running at the moment, however here’s Gill’s Facebook page.
This year’s workshop was held at Valda Muller’s Organic New Zealand Nuts walnut farm where Valda guided the workshop participants on a walk-around of her property, which is virtually all biodynamic. The workshop was created and managed by Su Hoskins, who is also has an amazing grasp of organic and biodynamic farming, who we’ll interview soon. Sue recently hosted the two-day workshop where the first day was near Wanaka, and the second at Valda’s in Cromwell. You can learn more about Sue on her Facebook page.
If you get a chance, read their books, and if you’re in New Zealand, by all means, attend one of their, and Sue’s workshops.
Before lock-down, here on the South Island of New Zealand, we were quite busy renting out our accommodation to AirBnB guests from all over the world. We enjoyed meeting people from Italy to the US, from China to India. Since lock-down, we’ve been getting bookings from individuals and families here in New Zealand, who want a “digital detox”, or to reset their perspective on life. There’s a huge demand for going within, and reconnecting with one’s self, with others and with nature. Humbly, I think we do that well here at Mountain Spirit. We’ve been at it for a while and are excited to share our space and experience. Amanda offers wonderful and centering YinYoga classes. Randall offers re-connection through “solo’s”, sailing and other experiential activities. Randall worked with Outward Bound for many years, then a mountain guide in South America for Alpine Ascents International, leading climbers up peaks in Peru, Argentina and Ecuador and has landed in New Zealand. Amanda has studied yoga most of her life, and spent some months in India practicing and learning. She most recently has been training under Sarah Powers. Come join us if you’re so inclined to dive into your inner world. We’re at mtnspirit.nz
Editor’s note: We host a weekly Sunday meditation here at Mountain Spirit New Zealand near Wanaka. Yesterday, it was my turn to host, and I re-introduced the simple three items of incense, flowers and a candle. The flowers especially are a great reminder to be grateful. I used to use the simple three items during my meditations after a family loss some years ago, and although I use them off and on, now I’ll make it a more regular thing. Its funny how simple things can bring you back on track even during the toughest of times. It’s all about gratitude. If you’ve not seen it, check out What the Bleep! movie which also served, and still does, as a good reminder to be grateful for what we do have. It’s along the same lines at the article below – showing, through science what the Eastern Mystics have known all along. Randall Richards
Neuroscience Reveals: Gratitude Literally Rewires Your Brain to be Happier
When you say “thank you”, do you really mean it or is it just politeness to which you give little attention? Neuroscientists have found that if you really feel it when you say it, you’ll be happier and healthier. The regular practice of expressing gratitude is not a New Age fad; it’s a facet of the human condition that reaps true benefits to those who mean it.
Psychologists Dr. Robert Emmons of the University of California at Davis and Dr. Michael McCullough of the University of Miami published a study in 2015 that looked at the physical outcomes of practicing gratitude. Read more…
In 370 schools across England, children will be taught how to meditate, techniques for muscle relaxation, and breathing exercises for mindfulness. The program is being conducted under a mental health study that the British government is running up until 2021.
Dealing with new and complex emotions can be mitigated by meditation and mindfulness. When children act out by kicking and screaming, very often it is simply because they don’t understand. Read More….
Half-way through my Outward Bound career, I starting introducing the concept of gratefulness by asking my students to name five things for which they were grateful. The five things didn’t have to be from their wilderness trip, it could be anything. It was an eye opener to see how some of them had a difficulty finding things in which to be grateful. They were just out of practice. So was I. These days, it’s been a daily question in our family, sometimes at the dinner table or while driving. It puts things in perspective, and not only for our 8yr-old.
Echkart Tolle states in his book Power of Now, “When you honor, acknowledge, and fully accept your present reality — where you are, who you are, what you are doing right now — when you fully accept what you have got, you are grateful for what you have got, grateful for what is, grateful for Being. Gratitude for the present moment and the fullness of life now is true prosperity. It cannot come in the future. Then, in time, that prosperity manifests for you in various ways.” (There’s more of this excerpt here.)
If quotes from Tolle aren’t convincing enough, a recent UCLA study should give you something to think about…
Neuroscience Reveals: This Is How Gratitude Literally Rewires Your Brain to Be Happier
From: Real Life Pharmacy
By Justin Brown
We often hear about the power of gratitude for creating a more positive and happy mental state. But did you know that gratitude literally transforms your brain?
According to UCLA’s Mindfulness Awareness Research Center, regularly expressing gratitude literally changes the molecular structure of the brain, keeps the gray matter functioning, and makes us healthier and happier.
By Holistic Life Foundation
School Sends Kids to Meditation Instead of Detention, with Amazing Results
Traditionally when children act up in school, they would get detention or they get suspended. An elementary school in Baltimore has a far healthier approach, read more…
Outward Bound recently published a piece entitled How to Learn Mindfulness from the Wilderness. I’ve been meditating since my early teens, and grew up spending most of my after-school hours in the woods and mountains of New Hampshire and later working for Outward Bound as an instructor and staff trainer. I’d spend weeks and months in the backcountry without site of a car or airplane in stunning mountains. After a week, the students and I were just starting to adjust to the quieter pace. After two weeks, we were in the groove and were in no rush to return to “civilization”. Teaching out there helped me see more of the quiet mind in myself, and in others. It was a moving experience to see others sink into themselves, the environment and to connect more with each other. So read on.. and enjoy this wonderful piece on connection, mindfulness and wilderness.
It motivated me to start Mountain Spirit USA in 1989 and then Mountain Spirit New Zealand with my wife on the South Island. How to Learn Mindfulness from the Wilderness.
By Outward Bound Blog On July 4, 1845, a 28-year old left his comfortable station in life and retreated to the woods. For the next two years, two months and two days, he lived in a cabin that he built himself, surviving on what he could gather with his own hands. His only companions were the books he brought, the birds on his window sill and the ruminations of his own mind. He lived alone and simply, recording his experience as he went along. His experiment was published under the title Walden and as you might know already read more…
The waking up process is a very personal experience. Once we become aware of the existence of a fabricated world we thought to be real and that our true nature is anything but what we’ve been told, there’s no turning back.
It may appear to be a lonely path, but we are by no means alone in this awakening. It is happening in all walks of life. Whether a banker or corporate employee wakes up to the scam being perpetrated on humanity and pulls out of the matrix, or a normal taxpaying worker realizes they’re contributing to a military industrial machine hell bent on control and world domination, we’re all the same.
Leadership in Chaos
And those are just surface issues compared to the deliberate suppression of man’s innate spiritual nature, whether we call it social liberty or the freedom to create and manifest as we truly are.
Triggers for Awakening
There are many such triggers that wake people up. Once someone realizes how the world was scammed on 9/11 and that the powers that be are willing to perpetrate such atrocities to promote their agenda, the digging begins. When we realize we’re at the complete mercy of parasitic central bankers more than willing to not only implode the world’s economy, but finance both sides of any conflict for personal gain and control and that our governments are complicit in this scheme, we start to grasp the enormity of what befalls us.
That we have rapidly evolved into an advanced militarized surveillance police state is driving many to ask some hard questions – and the answers can be startling and difficult to swallow, especially when you realize they have cut off all avenues of recourse.
Meditation in Action
Another major issue is that it’s more evident by the day that our very health is under attack, again by complicit government and multinational corporations pushing GMOs, adulterated food, vaccines, pharmaceuticals, atmospheric aerosols and the like, all of which have been proven to be extremely hazardous to humanity. Yet they push harder by the day, mandating program after destructive program. Meanwhile, natural and organic farming and foods, as well as supplements, are under intense attack by these very same perpetrators.
The truth about these issues and many, many more including massive planet harming programs such as fracking, electrosmog, and the geoengineering assault on humanity are driving a major perceptual paradigm shift amongst all walks of life as we delve more deeply into who is doing all this and why.
Back Room Politics
There Is No “They” – Oh Really?
This is often the final breakthrough point for many people. As the true picture starts to crystallize, the horrific realization that the “powers that be” are fundamentally a clandestine cabal with front men comes into focus. These are powerful minions, Read the rest of this story..
bookings from individuals and families here in New Zealand, who want a “digital detox”, or to reset their perspective on life. There’s a huge demand for going within, and reconnecting with one’s self, with others and with nature. Humbly, I think we do that well here at Mountain Spirit. We’ve been at it for a while and are excited to share our space and experience. Amanda offers wonderful and centering 
us if you’re so inclined to dive into your inner world. We’re at 
In 370 schools across England, children will be taught how to meditate, techniques for muscle relaxation, and breathing exercises for mindfulness. The program is being conducted under a mental health study that the British government is running up until 2021.
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