In this inaugural episode of the new Touching the Stillness 2016 series, our host invites us to untether from old ways of being and our “business as usual” living to embark on a journey that’s intended to activate more of our inner mystic.

At this time of year, light is a common theme brilliantly glowing throughout the festivals and observances of most of the major faith traditions. Our host closes this marvelous Year of Blissful Living series with the call to let our own 'big, bright, brilliant beam of radiant light shine' merrily throughout the holidays—and beyond.

We may mean well when we attempt to comfort or console another person as they experience grief. But sometimes we might put our foot in our mouth and spout out mindless platitudes because it’s our own pain and discomfort we’re trying to deflect. In this episode, our host asks what words, actions, or attitude will support you if you've been bereaved and are navigating a time of tears and transition?

Away from family because of work? First holiday after the death of a loved one, a divorce, or breakup? Do you live alone and will also be by yourself during the holiday? In this episode, we look at how to find bliss when we’re called to go solo during the holidays.

We’re talking about a different kind of app in this episode; one that can’t be accessed by your smartphone or mobile device but is only downloadable from the heart and is most effective when freely shared.

Our phones are no longer tethered to the wall and our maps don’t take up the entire front seat. In this digital age everything we need is at our finger tips—including tips, tools, and timers for our meditation practice. With the assistance of a high school senior and former meditation student, our host highlights a few of the myriad apps available on the market to support us in our practice.

Are you only half-heartedly experiencing what brings joy because you’re waiting for the other shoe to hit the ground? What if we were to make gratitude the other proverbial "other shoe"? Perhaps then the sound we’d hear would be the echo of our foreboding joy being transformed into positive expectation. Give it a go. We're keeping it joyful and real!

Our host is giddy with gratitude as, in this its birthday week, Touching the Stillness celebrates seven years on the air and some 312 episodes of the program on the Unity Online Radio Network. What a way to kick off this month's theme of Blissful Living Through Gratitude and Grace!

Using sacred passages in our meditation practice not only promotes spiritual insight, it brings those insights alive in us as we go about our day for, as Blue Mountain Center of Meditation duo Paul and Saskia remind us, what we meditate on we become. Join us as we read between the lines in this introduction to Eknath Easwaran’s Passage Meditation Practice.

Having discovered one of the words highlighted in last month’s prayer series was mistranslated, our host seized the opportunity to delve into a lively discussion on the word Palel, with Rev. Kelly Isola; and as nothing is “lost” in Spirit, she also manages to thread the concept into this episode’s blissful stillness meditation.