Ep.63- Choosing Love in a Time of Great Division with Scott Stabile

Conversation with Scott

[00:00:00]

Scott: Hello and welcome to the Love and Compassion podcast with Gissele. We believe that love and compassion have the power to heal our lives and our world.

Gissele: Don’t forget to like and subscribe for more amazing content. This year we’re creating an inspiring documentary called Courage to Love, the Power of Compassion, which explores the extraordinary stories of those who have chosen to do the unthinkable. Love and forgive those who have caused them deep harm.

Through their journeys, we will uncover the profound impact of forgiveness, not only to those offering it, but also those receiving it. we’ll hear from experts who will explore whether love and reconciliation are part of our human nature and how we can bridge divides with those we disagree with.

We are launching a fundraising campaign in March, offering incredible perks to our supporters. If you’re interested in our documentary, know somebody whose story should be featured, or would like to contribute financially, stay tuned. Speaking of divided, [00:01:00] today’s topic is about how to love others during divided times. Our guest today is Scott Stabile. He is a Breathwork Facilitator.

 and author of the acclaimed motivational memoir, Big Love, The Undeniable Joy of Following Your Heart, the short prose collection, Enough As You Are, and the inspirational art book, Just Love.

A passionate love advocate, Scott is a compassionate and soulful storyteller, unafraid to dive deep into the human experience. Through his books, talks, personal empowerment workshops, and sub stack newsletter, Scott invites us to choose love even in the darkest times. to fully embrace our messy, beautiful selves.

He’s not just a teacher. He’s a fellow traveler navigating the hard, sacred work of being human. Please join me in welcoming Scott. Hi, Scott.

Scott: Hi [00:02:00] Gissele.

Gissele: I’m so

excited to have this chat, it feels like if we’re just living in such a divided world, it feels like we’re almost living in two separate worlds of people that are wanting to love and have compassion.

And then this other group that is maybe struggling with that. And it feels like we’re more divided than ever. I was wondering if you could start by telling the audience how you got into the work of love.

Scott: How did

I get into the work of love? I mean, I would say the most Honest answer is I was in a cult in the in the Bay Area in the 90s.

In my early 20s, I got involved with a spiritual teacher and a spiritual community. And the, you know, the teachings from my former guru were, you know, love, unconditional love, unconditional friendship. It didn’t end up turning out that [00:03:00] way when, I mean, it ended in a very dark way, which I won’t go into right now.

But when I reflect back on those times, I was really consumed with enlightenment in the possibility of becoming enlightened. That’s what I cared about the most. And what I saw as the path to enlightenment was love. and compassion and forgiveness and all of these beautiful energies that we know when we’re engaging with those energies we feel so much better.

And what I came to discover when I decided that I didn’t want to be a part of this community anymore and that when I was going to let go of chasing enlightenment, when I realized it’s not something that I could achieve, that’s not how enlightenment works. That I still felt called to be as loving as possible and as compassionate as possible.

Nothing, nothing changed about me other than my drive to become enlightened, which only created for me a lot of suffering and misery, [00:04:00] honestly. And when I could let go of that, I was abl