Living Compass Spirituality & Wellness

The Northern Lights reminded us this week of the power of looking up--the power of awe and the importance of taking a higher perspective on how the Divine infuses and enlightens every aspect of our lives. 

The Wisdom of Indigenous spirituality is captured in this quote from Chief Seattle: "Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect." In this episode Scott explores how this is an expression of nondual consciousness, a topic he has been talking about in the last few episodes.

In response to several listeners' "so what?" questions regarding the previous podcast episode, Scott talks about a few practical applications of non-dual consciousness.  

A short introduction to Non-Dual Consiousness as it applies to our spirituality and well-being.  

Animals often provide a way for us to connect with the Divine. This is one reason so many churches this past week held Pet Blessings in celebration of St. Francis.  

In a world beset by violence, the call to be peacemakers can feel daunting. Yet that's exactly what Jesus and other spiritual teachers ask of us.  The key: don't go it alone. Work with and support other peacemakers.

In this episode, Scott shares how, in his journey of spirituality and wellbeing, he has sometimes used his faith as a place to hide behind a mask of self-righteousness. At other times, though, his faith has been what has taught him all that he knows about humility, growth, healing, forgiveness, and love.  

This time of year, children ask one another, "Who's your teacher this year?" It's a good question for adults to ask as well, since we're all on a lifelong journey of emotional and spiritual growth.

There are many compasses that are competing to guide our lives. How will you and I choose to make Love our compass today?  

While Scott is on vacation he is sharing meditations from the Living Compass app. Here is a guided meditation based on a quote by pastor and civil rights activist Howard Thurman. This meditation invites us to make the genuine our inner compass. The quote from Thurman is, "There is something in every one of us that waits and listens for the sound of the genuine in yourself. It is the only true guide you will ever have.".   You can find the content of the Living Compass app online at https://app.livingcompass.org You download the app for your phone at: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/living-compass/id6738334257 https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.livingcompass&hl=en    

While Scott is on vacation he is sharing meditations from the Living Compass app. Here is a beautiful meditation from Westina Matthews, a noted spiritual director, retreat leader, and author. You may know the phrase "catch and release" as it applies to fishing. In this meditation, Westina expands on this phrase as it applies to one's spiritual life.   *Westina Matthews, PhD is an author, a public speaker, spiritual director, professor, and workshop/retreat leader whose practice reflects contemplative living through “holy listening”. For the past twelve years, Westina taught contemplative spiritual direction at General Theological Seminary in the Center for Christian Spirituality. Through her thoughtful, poignant, humorous, and authentic writings, she has found a way to connect with audiences around the world.  Her most recent books are Soul Food: Nourishing Essays on Contemplative Living and Leadership (2023); This Band of Sisterhood: Black Women Bishops on Race, Faith, and the Church (2021); and Dancing from the Inside Out: Grace-Filled Reflections on Growing Older (2019). After living and writing in New York City for more than 30 years, she is now writing along the banks of the Wilmington River in Savannah, Georgia. https://westinamatthews.com   You can find the content of the Living Compass app online at https://app.livingcompass.org You download the app for your phone at: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/living-compass/id6738334257 https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.livingcompass&hl=en

While Scott is on vacation he is sharing meditations from the Living Compass app. Here is a beautiful meditation from Brother David Steindl-Rast. Br. David Steindl-Rast, known around the world as “The Grandfather of Gratitude,” is a Benedictine monk and the pioneer of interfaith dialogue. He worked intimately with other great spiritual teachers like His Holiness The Dalai Lama, Thomas Merton, Thich Nhat Hanh, and Thomas Keating. Gratefulness, he discovered, is the common thread in all religions. The author of more than a dozen books, including Gratefulness, the Heart of Prayer and You Are Here, Br. David has taught about the grateful life for more than 50 years. Learn more at www.grateful.org You can find the content of the Living Compass app online at https://app.livingcompass.org You download the app for your phone at: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/living-compass/id6738334257 https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.livingcompass&hl=en    

This episode is based on a quote from contemplative author Thomas Merton: "Contemplative living is living in true relationship with oneself, God, others and nature, free of the illusions of separateness."  Scott shares two recent experiences he has had in nature that remind of how deeply interconnected our lives are with on another and with God.  

One of the rituals we participate in when we attend a baseball game is singing "Take Me Out to the Ball Park." In this episode, Scott, an avid baseball fan (Milwaukee Brewers), reflects on the many meanings of "Root, root, root for the home team."  

Scott is an avid bike rider and in this episode he share the spiritual lessons he has learned from decades of riding a bike.   And just a reminder, you can find the new Living Compass App at: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/living-compass/id6738334257 https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.livingcompass&hl=en https://app.livingcompass.org

Unplugging is the first step to pausing to reset our compass. The next step is to prioritize plugging into choices that renew our spiritual and emotional well-being.   Our new Living Compass App is one way to plug into renewing your spiritual and emotional well--being.  Find it at: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/living-compass/id6738334257 https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.livingcompass&hl=en https://app.livingcompass.org

Celebrating our interdependence is just as important as celebrating our independence. We are all connected, all part of one body.  There is no "other,"--because we are all interconnected, all beloved one of our Creator.  

What if we thought of prayer not so much as trying to change others or to change what's happening in the world, but as changing us?

The words from Colossians 3:12 provide the focus for this episode: “Holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.” The "clothes" we choose to wear each day have a profound effect on the spiritual and emotional well-being of ourselves and others.  

Scott talks about the joy his grandsons experience now that they can swim in the deep end of the pool.  He uses this as a metaphor for learning to enjoy the deeper dimensions of our emotional and spiritual lives.  

Scott talks about his son's recent graduation and the lessons he was reminded of about the power of community and how we are best able "to go far when we go together."

We are all familiar with the usual way the acronym ASAP is used. What if we expanded our understanding of this and thought of it as any of the following: As Slow As Possible As Steady As Possible As Siimple As Possible As Still As Possible As Soft As Possible As Sincere As Possible Allow Space And Pause   Scott shares a funny and meaningful story about a lesson he recently learned driving a 26 ft moving truck 1,000 miles.  

In Part 2 of Introducing the new Living Compass mobile app, Scott addresses the questiion, "What is Contemplative Psychology?" and explains how the new app is grounded in this approach to psychology.   Download the app for Iphones at:  https://apps.apple.com/us/app/living-compass/id6738334257   Donwload the app for Google/Android phones at:  https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.livingcompass&hl=en  

Living Compass has launced a new mobile and web based app that focusees on the integration of contemplative spirituality and wellness.   You can download the app on your Apple phone at: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/living-compass/id6738334257   You can download the app on youor Google/Android phone at:  https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.livingcompass&hl=en   You can also access all the content in the app on your web browser at app.livingcompass.org

This Easter episode explores the image of the earth softening in springtime as a sign of resurrection.  Scott even sings this verse from one of his favorite Easter hymns: When our hearts are saddened, grieving, or in pain, By Your touch You call us back to life again; Fields of our hearts that dead and bare have been: Love is come again, like wheat that springs up green. —John M. C. Crum

In this episode for Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, we reflect on this well-known passage: "Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends." 1 Corinthians 13:4-8. The episode concludes with a three-minute guided meditation on this passage.  

As we begin Holy Week, Scott reflects on how it is the actions and choices that Jesus makes this week that teach the most about walking the way of love.  The episode concludes with a three minute guided meditation.  

In this second episode of this week's focus on cultivating patience, Scott shares four passages from Scripture that are helpful guides as we seek to deepen our practice of patience. He concludes with a 3-minute guided meditation.  

The etymology of the word "patience" comes from a Latin word meaning "to bear suffering." This is why we call a person who is being treated by a medical professional a "patient." In this tenth episode for Lent, Scott talks about how cultivating patience is particularly challenging when we or someone we love is suffering. We are called to go deeper in our faith to draw strength. The episode closes with a three-minute guided meditation.

A European Folk Tale known as The Story of the Stone Soup has much to teach us about generosity. Scott explores this story in this episode, and then closes with a 3-minute guided meditation to help listeners apply the lessons to their lives.

In this fourth week of Lent, we focus on Practicing Generosity. In this episode, Scott shares a story about Ab Nicholas, the primary benefactor of Living Compass, and how he modeled generosity in the way he was present with others. He closes with a 3-minute guided meditation to help listeners hear how God calls them to practice generosity.  

"I've got that joy, joy, joy, joy, down in my heart....." is the theme of this episode.  Scott not only sings the song but reflects on what that really means when we access that joy, which is a true gift from God.  

Scott starts with a funny story about how sitting around waiting for joy to grow on its own rarely bears much fruit.  We need to do the little things, day by day, that cultivate joy in our lives and the lives of others. 

Jesus calls us to be peacemakers, and often times that means that we will be called to move out of our comforat zones and make peace with people who we find challenging to make peace with. To do this it can be helpful to consider our thoughts, words, and deeds around being peacemakers.  

This fourth episode for Lent 2025 focuses on Cultivating Peace. Jesus calls us to be peacemakers, not simply people who feel peaceful. To be a peacemaker means to enter into situations where there is conflict--and as Scott shares in this episode, sometimes being a peacemaker means bringing peace to a conflict that we have caused.   A guided meditation is also offered during the last 3 minutes of this episode.   If you don't have a booklet, sign up to receive the daily emails for Lent from Living Compass at www.livingcompass.org/lent-signup. An archive of the daily readings can be found at https://www.livingcompass.org/living-well-through-lent-2025-readings. 

This third episode for Lent 2025 focuses on Cultivating Faithfulness. Faithfulness is described as "trusting in the slow work of God" and also as practicing deep listening--to one another and to God.  A guided meditation is also offered during the last 3 minutes of this episode.   If you don't have a booklet can sign up to receive the daily emails for Lent from Living Compass at www.livingcompass.org/lent-signup. An archive of the daily readings can be found at https://www.livingcompass.org/living-well-through-lent-2025-readings. 

This second episode for Lent 2025 focuses on Cultivating Faithfulness. Faithfulness is described as "a long obedience in the same direction," and the journey of faith is compared to running a marathon.  

This first episode for Lent 2025 begins our focus on Cultivating the Fruit of the Spirit with All Your Heart, Soul, Strength, and Mind. In this episode we look at how humility is the soil in which we can cultivate these fruits. The Parable of the Sower is explored as a metaphor for our inner lives.  A guided meditation is also offered during the last 3-4 minutes of this episode.   You can sign up to receive the daily emails for Lent from LIving Compass at www.livingcompass.org/lent-signup

This year, our Living Compass daily readings for Lent will focus on Cultivating the Fruit of the Spirit. In this episode, we look at the Parable of the Sower and discuss how tending the soil of our inner lives is good preparation for Lent.    

This episode explores the wisdom from Buddhist monk and teacher Thich Nhat Hanh who said, "There is no path to peace. Peace is the path."

What flowers are you being called to plant right now?

Scott tells the story about a fish who wanted to see the ocean and discusses how it is a metaphor for living a contemplative life. 

This episode is a 6-minute guided mediation on a quote from Howard Thurman about "listening to the sound of the genuine" within ourselves.  The entire quote is: "There is something in every one of you that waits and listens for the sound of the genuine in yourself. It is the only true guide you will ever need."

This quote from St. Benedict is the focus of this episode as Scott talks about prioritizing our spiritual growth in the new year: "It is for us to train our hearts to live in grace, to sacrifice our self-centered desires, to find the peace without want, without seeking it for ourselves; and even when we fail, always we begin again." 

In this episode, Scott shares a Christmas Eve story that touched his heart many years ago, a story that reminds him of the peace that comes when we are able to soften our hearts.  

In this episode, Scott discusses a beautiful thing about sowing light, love, joy, and peace: giving away as much of these things as possible never diminishes what we have ourselves. I can light countless candles from a candle I am holding, and the flame of my candle is never diminished.    

In this episode, Scott reflects on the well-known scripture, Philippians 4:5-7, daring to try to understand the peace which passes understanding:  "Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."   

There is a deep connection between being still and being at peace.  This episode explores this connection and also explores the idea of "Be still and 'no!'"

In this episode, Scott talks about how the wisdom of the Twelve Steps can help guide us as we focus on making peace with ourselves. Here are the Twelve Steps: 1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol — that our lives had become unmanageable. 2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. 3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood God. 4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. 5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs. 6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character. 7. Humbly asked God to remove our shortcomings. 8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all. 9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others. 10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it. 11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood God, praying only for knowledge of God's will for us and the power to carry that out. 12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these Steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics and others, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

During Advent, we will release two weekly episodes focusing on our Advent theme of "Practicing Peace with All Your Heart, Soul, Strength, and Mind." The booklets are all gone, but you can receive the daily reflections by email.  Visit www.livingcompass.org/advent-signup In this episode, Scott Stoner helps us gain a deeper understanding of peace by discussing how the Peace of Christ is not dependent on external circumstances. 

During Advent, we will release two weekly episodes focusing on our Advent theme of "Practicing Peace with All Your Heart, Soul, Strength, and Mind." The booklets are all gone, but you can receive the daily reflections by email.  Visit www.livingcompass.org/advent-signup In this episode, Scott Stoner helps us gain a deeper understanding of peace by discussing how peace is not just about calmness and serenity but also the transformative power of forgiveness and reconciliation.