Living Compass Spirituality & Wellness

Scott talks about two recent experiences he had that reminded him of the power and simplicity of walking meditation. He provides some guidance on how to get started with this practice. Please know, too, that there are several guided walking meditations in the Living Compass app. Download the free app on your phone's app store or find it online at https://app.livingcompass.org . Reach out if you wa...

In anticipation of the Fourth of July, Scott shares a "declaration of interdependence," based on his morning meditation with his cup of coffee.

Inspired by joining over 100,000 fans at a World Cup pre-game party and march in Seattle, Scott talks about the spirituality of rooting. The double meaning of "rooting" is explored — meaning to cheer one another on, and to ground us more deeply in our spirituality. The episode invites each of us to think of someone specific in our lives who could use a little rooting on right now.

The Beautiful Game: Soccer as a Guide to Living a Beautiful Life Living Compass Spirituality and Wellness Podcast Episode Summary Host Scott Stoner — Episcopal minister, licensed marriage and family therapist, 40-year soccer player, and lifelong fan — draws on the principles of "the beautiful game" to explore what it means to live a beautiful life. Recorded during World Cup season, this episode is...

Liminal time is that time between "no longer" and "not yet." It is something we experience in many seasons of our lives — something we see now as we enter the season of graduations and weddings. Other experiences of liminal time, though, come not by choice but by loss. This episode explores how the two most important factors in helping us when we find ourselves in the "in between" times are spirit...

Is Your Recreation Truly Re-Creative? As summer begins, host Scott Stoner invites listeners to reflect on a simple but important question: Is your recreation actually restoring you — or are you just zoning out? Scott distinguishes between mindlessly scrolling or numbing out (easy to do, but not truly restorative) and activities that create genuine flow — that quality of being so present and engage...

Beginner's Mind: The Spiritual Practice of Not Knowing Living Compass Spirituality and Wellness Podcast Episode Summary What if not knowing were a gift rather than a failure? In this episode, Scott Stoner explores the Zen concept of beginner's mind — the practice of approaching life's questions with openness, humility, and curiosity rather than the pressure to have all the answers. Drawing on deca...

Show Notes In this episode, Scott reflects on one of spring's most quietly profound lessons: that trees bud in their own time, on their own internal rhythm — and that the same is true for each of us. Walking near the Ice Age Trail and in his own neighborhood, Scott has noticed that even two trees of the same species, standing side by side, can be weeks apart in their budding. One is fully leafing...

"Leave everything undefined, including yourself. Befriend uncertainty. Fall in love with mystery. Kneel at the altar of Not Knowing. Give your questions time to breathe. And the answers will find you." Jeff Foster Befriending Uncertainty: Learning to Live in the "Not Yet" Living Compass Spirituality and Wellness Podcast About This Episode This episode is a follow-up to last week's reflection on th...

Way Will Open: An Easter Reflection Living Compass Spirituality and Wellness Podcast Episode Summary In this Easter season episode, Scott explores the ancient Quaker wisdom phrase "Way will open" and its profound connection to the resurrection story. With honesty and hope, he reflects on why we sometimes close ourselves off to new life — and why trusting that way will open is both a radical act an...

Show Notes: The Ground Begins to Soften "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh." — Ezekiel 36:26 Happy Easter! In this episode, Scott Stoner reflects on one of his favorite Easter metaphors — one rooted right here in Wisconsin: the slow, unmistakable thawing of frozen ground in spring. Alongside the powerfu...

The Living Compass Spirituality and Wellness Podcast Episode: Disarmed, and Armed with Love As we enter Holy Week, Scott reflects on one of the most overlooked details of the Palm Sunday story — how Jesus enters Jerusalem. Rather than arriving with military might, chariots, and armor as the leaders of his day would have done, Jesus enters humbly, on a donkey, armed only with love. This simple but...

The Grass is Greener Where We Water It Living Compass Spirituality and Wellness Podcast Lent 2026 Series: Cultivating Healing and Wholeness in Heart, Soul, Strength, and Mind Episode Summary We've all heard it: the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. But what if we changed the saying — and changed our lives in the process? In this episode, Scott Stoner explores how envy and com...

Prayer Doesn't Always Change Outcomes, But It Always Changes Us Living Compass Spirituality and Wellness Podcast Lent 2026 Series: Cultivating Healing and Wholeness in Heart, Soul, Strength, and Mind Episode Summary What happens when the healing we pray for doesn't come? In this episode, Scott Stoner — pastor, therapist, and founder of Living Compass — explores one of the most honest and tender qu...

"Do You Want to Be Made Well?" Living Compass Spirituality and Wellness Podcast Lent Series: Cultivating Healing and Wholeness with All Your Heart, Soul, Strength, and Mind   In this Lent episode, host Scott Stoner reflects on one of the most striking healing stories in the Gospels — Jesus's encounter with a man who had been ill for 38 years at the pool of Bethesda (John 5:1–9). At the heart of th...

Show Notes: Healing and Wholeness — Wrestling with God and Listening for Whispers Living Compass Spirituality and Wellness Podcast | Lent 2026 In this episode, Scott Stoner reflects on two powerful biblical stories that illuminate what healing and wholeness can really look like — not always peaceful or easy, but sometimes raw, wrestling, and hard-won. Drawing on the story of Jacob wrestling with G...

Opening Our Eyes: Healing Our Vision Living Compass Spirituality and Wellness Podcast — Lent, Week 1 This episode explores the theme of "Opening Our Eyes" as part of the first full week of Lent, connected to the daily devotional booklet Cultivating Wholeness and Healing with All Your Heart, Soul, Strength, and Mind. Scott reflects on the many healing stories in the Gospels involving sight, noting...

  Host: Scott Stoner, Episcopal pastor and licensed marriage and family therapist Episode Summary Recorded the day before Ash Wednesday, this introductory episode launches the Lenten podcast series centered on the theme Cultivating Healing and Wholeness with All Your Heart, Soul, Strength, and Mind. Scott reflects on what it means to tend to our whole selves during the 47 days of Lent, drawing on...

In this Valentine's Day episode, Scott reflects on the Buddhist monks who recently completed their 2,300-mile peace walk to Washington, D.C., drawing connections between walking meditation, pilgrimage, and the true nature of love. He explores how love is primarily a decision and practice rather than just a feeling, using 1 Corinthians 13 as a guide to understand love as patience, kindness, and end...

Many of the people Scott works with as a coach and therapist are reporting that they are experiencing compassion fatigue. In this episode, he talks about what compassion fatigue is and how to address it.  

In this episode, Scott shares a "check-in" process he often uses with individuals, couples, and organizations he works with, called the "internal weather report." He also shares how, in the midst of the deep freeze hitting Wisconsin, where he lives, as well as much of the rest of the country, the universal wish that people extend to one another is "stay warm." What would it mean for us to "stay wa...

Sometimes an encounter changes us so deeply that we cannot return the same way we came. When has that been true for you? The story of the Wise Men being warned not to go back to Herod, but to go home by a different way after they encounter the Christ child, is a metaphor for how when we encounter the Divine, we often choose to move forward in a new way.

Let us celebrate and fully receive the generous gift of God's love at Christmas so that we can go forth and generously share that love with others.  

A Generous Dinner Party Jesus tells this story to remind us what a true Christian approach to generosity and hospitality looks like.  How might you and I practice this in our own lives? Luke 14:15-25 (The Message Translation) 15  That triggered a response from one of the guests: "How fortunate the one who gets to eat dinner in God's kingdom!" 16-17  Jesus followed up. "Yes. For there was once a ma...

Jesus offered a radical, transformational hospitality. What does it look like for us to do the same?