Shows
Pneuma with Daniel FinneranHow to look SNATCHED for your weddingEvery bride wants to feel confident, radiant, and yes — a little snatched — on her big day! In this special episode, I’m joined by Lucia, my fiancée, to discuss some simple techniques that brides-to-be can employ to look stunning on the day of their wedding. We dive into the ketogenic diet, smart nutritional tweaks, and other practical techniques to look and feel your absolute best when all eyes (and cameras) are on you. If married, how did you prepare for your wedding?
2025-09-2129 minPneuma with Daniel FinneranIs fasting a FAD?Is fasting just another trendy wellness fad, or is it something much older? In this episode, we’ll explore the history of fasting….From our hunter-gatherer ancestors who lived in cycles of scarcity and plenty, To the religious traditions that ritualized and made sacred their abstention from food, To the popular protocols of the modern era, like 16:8 and OMAD. Along the way, I’ll share my own experiences with fasting and offer practical guidance for those...
2025-09-1909 minPneuma with Daniel FinneranGrocery Guide - BEEF JERKY - How to Buy, What to Avoid, and How to Make your ownIn this episode on everyday food choices, we’ll discuss beef jerky. What’s its origin? What’s actually in it? And how do you avoid buying the stuff that’s more sugar and sodium than meat?We’ll cover a quick history of jerky, explain how to shop smart for beef sticks at the store, and walk through the basics of making your own at home. It’s practical, a little salty, and—hopefully—useful the next time you’re hungry on the road.Email me at pneuma.finneran...
2025-06-2315 minPneuma with Daniel FinneranYour Intellect is an EMANATION from God."Your intellect–which has come to you as an emanation from God–is the bond that exists between you and Him. The choice is yours: If you wish, you can strengthen and broaden this bond. Or, if you so desire, you can weaken it and make it gradually thinner until you cut it off altogether". This short meditation is inspired by the philosopher, Maimonides. Send your comments, critiques, and suggestions to pneuma.finneran@gmail.comIf you're Interested in bespoke 1:1 coaching, but pr...
2025-06-0811 minPneuma with Daniel FinneranEverything that truly HAPPENS, happens to YOU“All things happen to oneself, and happen precisely, precisely now”. These words, written by the great Argentine author, Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986), appear in his short story, The Garden of Forking Paths. Labyrinthine, dense, esoteric, and yet, at all times, wonderfully eloquent and readable, Borges gives us a lot to think about. This episode addresses two themes–both vital to our everyday life–around which many of his fantastic stories revolve: Identity and time. I’m curious to know…Does this episode resonate with you? ...
2025-05-3023 minPneuma with Daniel FinneranWhy you must MOVE after mealsPost cibum, ambulandum est“After eating, one must walk”Apply this ancient wisdom to your post-meal ritual, and your health will improve immensely. What do you like to do after a meal? Walk? Dance? Watch TV? I’m curious to know! Send me a message at pneuma.finneran@gmail.com. If you're Interested in bespoke 1:1 coaching, but prefer someone more approac...
2025-05-2716 minPneuma with Daniel FinneranDo you have a DUTY to be happy?Is it your duty to be happy? Immanuel Kant, the great German philosopher of the late 18th century, argues that it is. “To secure one’s own happiness is a duty…because discontent with one’s condition, under the pressure of many anxieties and amid unsatisfied wants, might easily become a great temptation to transgress one’s duties.”What do you think? Is Kant’s argument convincing? Are you any happier now that you know it is your du...
2025-05-2217 minPneuma with Daniel FinneranSimple exercises for stronger EYESHow seldom we look toward the horizon, Toward the distance,Toward the heavens. Instead, we’re focused unblinkingly on the luminous little boxes perched six inches away from our noses! (Yes--the fancy phone on which you're reading these words. That box!)Unsurprisingly, this has caused our eyesight to suffer. In this episode, we’ll work to undo this harm. We’ll work to strengthen our eyes (and, as always, our minds!)...
2025-05-1821 minPneuma with Daniel FinneranIntermittent Fasting v. The "30-30-30" Protocol: Which is better?The 30-30-30 Protocol—developed by Tim Ferriss and popularized by Gary Brecka—is an approach to nutrition that requires you to: 1. Consume 30 grams of protein2. Within 30 minutes of waking3. After which you perform 30 minutes of exerciseThis method is starkly different from intermittent fasting, in which you to abstain (typically during the morning hours) from eating anything at all. Which method is better? With which have you had more success? In this episode, a very shiny and muscular James Flood and I offer our two cent...
2025-05-1431 minPneuma with Daniel FinneranTurning water into weight LOSS? The secret about SAUNASA sauna can be immensely beneficial to your overall wellbeing: It boosts cardiovascular health, enhances recovery, deepens sleep, and supports detoxification. But there’s a common misunderstanding about its power to help you lose WEIGHT, of which you should be disabused. Does sweating in the sauna = weight loss? Have you implemented regular sauna use into your regimen? What impact has it had on you? I'd love to hear about your experience! Send a...
2025-05-1004 minPneuma with Daniel FinneranNutrient timing: It's not only what, but WHEN you eat that mattersThe nutrients with which you fuel up and recover are important, but so too is the time of day at which you consume them. The term for this is, simply enough, “Nutrient Timing”. In this episode, my pal James Flood explains the basics of “Nutrient Timing”, including: The post-workout feeding window: what to eat, what to avoid, and when. The difference between fast and slow digesting carbs, and when each should be consumed. When protein should be consumedAnd more! Please send comments or questions to pneu...
2025-05-0727 minPneuma with Daniel FinneranA Lullaby for Lovers: SEX and sleepThe unspoken remedy to restlessness…The quiet cure-all for sleepless nights…Sex!A sleep aid–provided to us by the beneficence of nature–than which there is none more effective, satisfying, nor potent. Have you experienced the soporific impact of sex? Send your (PG-rated) comments toEmail: pneuma.finneran@gmail.comIf you're Interested in bespoke 1:1 coaching, but prefer someone more approachable than your typical trainer, start here ➡️ https://forms.gle/n1q3rpMYi8...
2025-05-0624 minPneuma with Daniel FinneranThe untold PERILS of Protein PowderAre protein powders detrimental to your health? 🤔Recently published studies have revealed significant amounts of heavy metals (namely cadmium and lead) to be hiding in them. The highest concentrations were found in: 1. Chocolate flavored powders2. Plant-based powdersMy good pal James Flood offers his take on the issue. X link: https://x.com/DanielEFinneran/status/1885158418329075920YouTube link: https://youtu.be/mhumQJdwl2IComments? What kind of protein powder do you take? Send me an email: pneuma.f...
2025-05-0122 minPneuma with Daniel FinneranWhat your BRAIN really thinks about your GUT feelingsHave you ever had a “gut feeling” about something? What about “butterflies in your stomach”? Have you ever had them? It turns out, the GUT is much more than a grumbling, bottomless repository for food; Inextricably linked to the BRAIN, the gut plays a vital role in the regulation of your emotions, moods, and stress. In this episode, we’ll examine the mysterious “Gut-Brain Axis” and offer tips on how to strengthen it and improve your overall well-being.Thank you so much...
2025-04-1319 minPneuma with Daniel FinneranHow to become UNCLUTTEREDWilliam Morris (1834-1896) was an English poet, designer, and political reformer.He developed a simple philosophy for “keeping house”: Keep nothing in your house that you do not Know to be USEFULBelieve to be BEAUTIFUL If your possessions are neither useful nor beautiful, dispose of them. Abide by this easy philosophy, and enjoy the bliss of an uncluttered, clean, and peaceful living space! If you don't mind sharing, please, tell me…Of what item d...
2025-04-0623 minPneuma with Daniel FinneranWelcome back to Pneuma! (Renewed and Relaunched, 2025)After an inexcusably long hiatus, Pneuma returns! I'm so excited to relaunch this program and, with your help, develop healthy bodies and souls. I sincerely hope that you enjoy the forthcoming content. (If you don't, please--don't hesitate to advise me on ways to improve it!) Reach out to me on X @DanielEFinneran, IG @DanielEthanFinneran, or send your comments, questions, and criticisms to pneuma.finneran@gmail.com Until then, Fare thee well!
2025-04-0406 min
Billet DouxInside a HAUNTED Manor on HALLOWEEN Night! | Emily Hartley and Charlie LennoxIn the tiny, sleepy town of Gibbon, Nebraska, a Halloween party was being held. At the party, Emily Hartley–a hometown girl, recently returned from college–met Charlie Lennox, a handsome young man from Chicago. Charlie had inherited Blackthorn Manor, an old, dilapidated mansion in which a ghost was rumored to dwell. Together, Emily and Charlie explored the house. You’ll be surprised to learn what they found! If you have a love letter that you’d like me to read righ...
2024-11-0235 minBillet Doux“Love is fed by the IMAGINATION, by which we become WISER than we know, BETTER than we feel, NOBLER than we are” | Oscar Wilde to Lord Alfred DouglasWhile imprisoned in Reading Gaol for the crime of gross indecency, Oscar Wilde wrote a letter to his friend and lover, Lord Alfred “Bosie” Douglas (1897). If you have a love letter that you’d like me to read right here on this podcast for all the world to hear, or a tale of romance you want to be told, send it to me via email at billetdouxu@gmail.com. If you’re struggling to find the words with which to sweep your beloved off his/her feet, reach out to me at b...
2024-10-0945 minBillet Doux“What I DESIRE is impossible, for what I desire is YOU” | Rafiq Ahmed and Radha MenonThe love story of Rafiq Ahmed and Radha Menon (1965) “If my family finds out what I’ve been up to, they’ll never forgive me. I’ll be disowned!” If you have a love letter that you’d like me to read right here on this podcast for all the world to hear, or a tale of romance you want to be told, send it to me via email at billetdouxu@gmail.com. If you’re struggling to find the words with which to sweep your belove...
2024-10-0135 minBillet Doux“My SOUL quivers to the vibration of your STRINGS” | Alejandro Moreno and Yelitza RodriguezThe love story of Alejandro Moreno and Yelitza Rodriguez (2024) “There is only one audience for whom I wish to play, and she is right here”. If you have a love letter that you’d like me to read right here on this podcast for all the world to hear, send it to me via email at billetdouxu@gmail.com. If you’re struggling to find the words with which to sweep your beloved off his/her feet, reach out to me at billetdouxu@gmail.com. Togeth...
2024-09-2638 minBillet Doux“As long as I’ve lived, I’ve YEARNED to love” | Erik Svensson and Katya IvanovaA story of the romance between Erik Svensson and Katya Ivanova (AD 823): Erik Svensson, a young Viking from Sweden, joined his warlord father on a mission to cross the Baltic Sea and invade the mainland of Russia. While there, he met and fell in love with Katya Ivanova, a beautiful daughter of the enemy. If you have a love letter that you’d like me to read right here on this podcast for all the world to hear, send it to me via email at billetdouxu@gmail.com. If y...
2024-09-0841 minBillet Doux“Even before I rise, my thoughts rush to you, my IMMORTAL BELOVED!” | Ludwig van Beethoven to Antonie BrentanoLudwig van Beethoven’s billet-doux to Antonie Brentano (1812): “I must live either wholly with you, or not at all”. If you have a love letter that you’d like me to read right here on this podcast for all the world to hear, send it to me via email at billetdouxu@gmail.com. If you’re struggling to find the words with which to sweep your beloved off his/her feet, reach out to me at billetdouxu@gmail.com. Together, we’ll compose the perfect love letter with which to get the job...
2024-09-0537 minBillet DouxTwo Athletes fall in LOVE at the Paris OLYMPICS | Rafael Pérez and Renée TrumbullA story of the romance between Rafael Pérez and Renée Trumbull (2024). Renée Trumbull, a Canadian gymnast, and Rafael Pérez, a Spanish swimmer, qualified to compete at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. One bright July morning, while walking through the Olympic Village, they met. Over the course of the next few weeks together at the Games, they fell in love. If you have a love letter that you’d like me to read ON AIR–right here on this...
2024-08-2931 minBillet Doux"Our love is FORBIDDEN, but it can’t be helped" | Kenji Matsumoto and Li MeiThe love story of Kenji Matsumoto and Li Mei (1937): Kenji Matsumoto, a young soldier conscripted to the JAPANESE imperial army, was taken from his university and stationed outside Yan’an. While patrolling the countryside, he met a beautiful CHINESE peasant girl by the name of Li Mei. Between them, under the cover of darkness, a forbidden love was forged. If you have a love letter that you’d like me to read ON AIR--right here on this podcast for all the...
2024-08-2726 minBillet Doux“I’ll forget your NAME the day I forget the FOOD I live on” | Michelangelo to Tommaso de CavalieriMichelangelo’s billet-doux to Tommaso de Cavalieri (1533): “Perhaps you said this to try me, or to rekindle a greater flame in me, if it were possible. Whichever it is, I know for sure that I’ll forget your name the day I forget the food I live on; in fact, I could sooner forget my food, which nourishes only the body, than your name, which nourishes body and soul, and fills both with such sweetness that I can feel no pain nor fear of death while my mind remembers it. Imagine how happy I would b...
2024-08-2528 minBillet Doux“It was the flame of LUST rather than the feeling of LOVE” | Peter Abèlard and HeloïseA touching exchange of billets-doux between Heloïse and Peter Abèlard (12th century). “Every wife, every young girl desired you in your absence and was on fire in your presence; queens and great ladies envied me my joys and my bed”. If you have a love letter that you’d like me to read right here ON AIR for all the world to hear, send it to me via email at billetdouxu@gmail.com. If you’re struggling to find the words with which to swee...
2024-08-2329 minBillet Doux“I should LOVE her FOREVER, were it only for that” | Thomas Jefferson to Maria CoswayA beautiful billet-doux sent from Thomas Jefferson to Maria Cosway (1786). “Friendship is precious not only in the shade, but in the sunshine of life; and, thanks to a benevolent arrangement of things, the greater part of life is sunshine”. If you have a love letter that you’d like me to read right here ON AIR for all the world to hear, send it to me via email at billetdouxu@gmail.com. If you’re struggling to find the words with which to sweep your belove...
2024-08-2129 minBillet Doux“My only LUCID moments were DREAMS of you" | Hector Berlioz to Harriet SmithsonA beautiful love story, written by Hector Berlioz for Harriet Smithson (1865). “A plan began to take shape in my mind: Harriet Smithson should hear of me! She should know that I also was an artist!” If you have a love letter that you’d like me to read right here ON AIR for all the world to hear, send it to me via email at billetdouxu@gmail.com. If you’re struggling to find the words with which to sweep your beloved off his/her feet, r...
2024-08-1924 minPneuma with Daniel FinneranHow to Deal with DISTRACTION with TS Eliot“Distracted from distraction by distraction”Look around: we’re in an inescapable loop of distraction. How do we liberate ourselves from this endless cycle? Borrowing from the great poet TS Eliot, this episode offers some advice. I hope that it’s helpful! Check out my sister channel Finneran’s Wake for profound, long-form conversations. Like, subscribe, and share with friends!
2024-01-0816 minPneuma with Daniel FinneranThe “Burning Babe” Who Makes Your Heart GLOW (Christmas Episode!) | Pneuma Nuggets“As I in hoary winter night stood shivering in the snow, Surprised was I with sudden heat which made my heart to glow;And lifting up a fearful eye to view what fire was nearA Pretty Babe all burning bright did in the air appear.” Robert SouthwellI hope that you enjoy this bite-sized Pneuma Nugget! Please consider sharing this episode with a friend and subscribing to this channel for more sleep stories, meditations, and soothing content!
2023-12-2504 minPneuma with Daniel Finneran“A man travels the WORLD in search of what he needs and returns HOME to find it” | Pneuma Nugget“A man travels the world in search of what he needs and returns home to find it”. - George Moore I hope that you enjoy this bite-sized Pneuma Nugget! Please consider sharing this episode with a friend and subscribing to the channel for more sleep stories, meditations, and soothing content! Visit my YouTube page @pneumabydanielfinneran. Email me at pneuma.finneran@gmail.comInstagram: @danielethanfinneranX: @Danie...
2023-12-1503 minPneuma with Daniel FinneranDon't Live An IMAGINARY Life In The Mind of Others“We do not content ourselves with the life we have in ourselves and in our own being; we desire to live an imaginary life in the mind of others…” Blaise Pascal, a French mathematician, inventor, and philosopher, came to this realization about humankind in the 17th century. It remains as true today as it was back then. In this episode, we discuss living an “imaginary life” in the mind of others, as opposed to embracing our real existence in the pursuit of truth. I...
2023-12-1321 minPneuma with Daniel FinneranHeart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad | Fall Asleep With MeJoseph Conrad (born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski) was a Polish-English novelist. He was born in 1857 and died in 1924. His twenty years spent as a sailor in the British merchant navy inspired many of his literary works, among which Heart of Darkness is most highly acclaimed. In this episode of “Fall Asleep with Me”, I read this work’s opening scene. It takes place on the tranquil waters of the River Thames. Please consider subscribing to this channel for more sleep...
2023-12-0534 minPneuma with Daniel FinneranA Meditation For A RAINY Day: Tracing The “History Of A Single Raindrop”“How interesting (it is) to trace the history of a single raindrop!” In this guided meditation, we’ll join the American outdoorsman, conservationist, and writer John Muir as we contemplate the dramatic life story of a single raindrop. Muir was a man of extraordinary depth. In this episode, we’ll accompany him to lofty poetic heights–high, in fact, as the craggy summits atop which he made his home–before following him and his raindrop down to the oceans, rivers, puddles, and flower cups in which they c...
2023-10-1823 minPneuma with Daniel FinneranA Meditation For A RAINY Day: Tracing The “History Of A Single Raindrop”“How interesting (it is) to trace the history of a single raindrop!” In this guided meditation, we’ll join the American outdoorsman, conservationist, and writer John Muir as we contemplate the dramatic life story of a single raindrop. Muir was a man of extraordinary depth. In this episode, we’ll accompany him to lofty poetic heights–high, in fact, as the craggy summits atop which he made his home–before following him and his raindrop down to the oceans, rivers, puddles, and flower cups in which they c...
2023-10-1823 minPneuma with Daniel FinneranFour Quartets by TS Eliot | The Great Poems Of All TimeThomas Stearns Eliot (1888 - 1965) was an Anglo-American poet. A devout Christian, Eliot was an important figure in the Modernist movement that sprang to life in the first quarter of the 20th century."Four Quartets", a uniquely sublime work by which all his other poems are eclipsed, addresses the theme of time. It's a theme on which, as you doubtless know, so many of our meditations here on Pneuma are based. I think that you'll enjoy it.
2023-10-141h 03Pneuma with Daniel FinneranFour Quartets by TS Eliot | The Great Poems Of All TimeThomas Stearns Eliot (1888 - 1965) was an Anglo-American poet. A devout Christian, Eliot was an important figure in the Modernist movement that sprang to life in the first quarter of the 20th century."Four Quartets", a uniquely sublime work by which all his other poems are eclipsed, addresses the theme of time. It's a theme on which, as you doubtless know, so many of our meditations here on Pneuma are based. I think that you'll enjoy it.
2023-10-141h 03Pneuma with Daniel FinneranFour Quartets by TS Eliot | The Greatest Poems Of All TimeThomas Stearns Eliot (1888 - 1965) was an Anglo-American poet. A devout Christian, Eliot was an important figure in the Modernist movement that sprang to life in the first quarter of the 20th century."Four Quartets", a truly sublime work by which all his other great poems are eclipsed, addresses the theme of time. It's a theme on which, as you doubtless know, so many of our meditations here on Pneuma are based. I think that you'll enjoy it. Subscribe, like, leave a five-star rating, and share this with friends. Send me p...
2023-10-131h 09Pneuma with Daniel Finneran“Footfalls Echo In The Memory”: How To Think About And Deal With REGRETFootfalls echo in the memoryDown the passage which we did not takeToward the door we never openedInto the rose-garden.This is an excerpt from the first poem of TS Eliot’s masterpiece, “Four Quartets”. It is, in my opinion, the most memorable part of “Burnt Norton”.In this episode, we’re going to meditate on the theme that Eliot presents: Regret. Be sure to listen to my prior episode about remorse. What is the one thing you regre...
2023-09-2627 minPneuma with Daniel Finneran“Footfalls Echo In The Memory”: How To Think About And Deal With REGRETFootfalls echo in the memoryDown the passage which we did not takeToward the door we never openedInto the rose-garden.This is an excerpt from the first poem of TS Eliot’s masterpiece, “Four Quartets”. It is, in my opinion, the most memorable part of “Burnt Norton”.In this episode, we’re going to meditate on the theme that Eliot presents: Regret. Be sure to listen to my prior episode about remorse. What is the one thing you regre...
2023-09-2627 minPneuma with Daniel FinneranHow to Think About and Deal with REMORSE, The “Poison Of Life”“Dread remorse when you are tempted to err, Miss Eyre; remorse is the poison of life.”In Charlotte Brontë’s 1847 masterpiece, “Jane Eyre”, Mr. Rochester issues this stark warning to young Jane, the novel’s titular character and heroine. In this episode, we’ll focus on remorse, contrast it with regret, and implement techniques to relieve us of its heavy burden. I ask you, dear friend and listener, which of the two do you think is worse: Remorse? Or regret? Share your thoughts in the comments section below, or send me an email at...
2023-09-0824 minPneuma with Daniel FinneranHow to Think About and Deal with REMORSE, The “Poison Of Life”“Dread remorse when you are tempted to err, Miss Eyre; remorse is the poison of life.”In Charlotte Brontë’s 1847 masterpiece, “Jane Eyre”, Mr. Rochester issues this stark warning to young Jane, the novel’s titular character and heroine. In this episode, we’ll focus on remorse, contrast it with regret, and implement techniques to relieve us of its heavy burden. I ask you, dear friend and listener, which of the two do you think is worse: Remorse? Or regret? Share your thoughts in the comments section below, or send me an email at...
2023-09-0824 minPneuma with Daniel FinneranWhat If You Had to Relive Each Moment Of Your Life Again And Again (Forever?)What if you had to live your life not only once, but innumerable times over? Would this be a blessing? A curse? Would you delight in the opportunity to live it again? Or, if you haven't lived such a good life thus far, would you bewail the prospect? In his work, "The Gay Science", Friedrich Nietzsche explores this idea. He does so through his doctrine of "Eternal Recurrence", of which the Pre-Socratic philosopher, Heraclitus, is acknowledged to have been the originator. In this meditation, we take up the doctrine of Et...
2023-06-0734 minPneuma with Daniel FinneranWhat If You Had to Relive Each Moment Of Your Life Again And Again (Forever?)What if you had to live your life not only once, but innumerable times over? Would this be a blessing? A curse? Would you delight in the opportunity to live it again? Or, if you haven't lived such a good life thus far, would you bewail the prospect? In his work, "The Gay Science", Friedrich Nietzsche explores this idea. He does so through his doctrine of "Eternal Recurrence", of which the Pre-Socratic philosopher, Heraclitus, is acknowledged to have been the originator. In this meditation, we take up the doctrine of Et...
2023-06-0734 minPneuma with Daniel FinneranHidden Inside Each One of Us Is An Unimaginable “I”. Where Is Yours?The concept of the Unimaginable “I” is one to which, so far as I can tell, the Czech-French writer, Milan Kundera, is chiefly responsible for having given life. Kundera, twice expelled from the Czech Communist Party (of which he was, in his youth, a devout member) published a book in 1984 entitled The Unbearable Lightness of Being, about which I talk, at some length, on my sister channel, Finneran’s Wake (Check it out on Podcast/YouTube!) In the book, Kundera contemplates the idea of the Unimaginable “I”, to which today’s epis...
2023-05-3021 minPneuma with Daniel FinneranHidden Inside Each One of Us Is An Unimaginable “I”. Where Is Yours?The concept of the Unimaginable “I” is one to which, so far as I can tell, the Czech-French writer, Milan Kundera, is chiefly responsible for having given life. Kundera, twice expelled from the Czech Communist Party (of which he was, in his youth, a devout member) published a book in 1984 entitled The Unbearable Lightness of Being, about which I talk, at some length, on my sister channel, Finneran’s Wake (Check it out on Podcast/YouTube!) In the book, Kundera contemplates the idea of the Unimaginable “I”, to which today’s epis...
2023-05-3021 minPneuma with Daniel FinneranBrideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh | Fall ASLEEP With MezzzzZZZZzzzz😴😴😴Hello everyone! Welcome to this latest installment of “Fall Asleep With Me”.In this series, I read classic bedtime stories and great works of literature to which you can (and most assuredly WILL) fall asleep! Tonight’s episode is a sleepy, dream-inducing reading of “Brideshead Revisited” by Evelyn Waugh. Please subscribe to this channel for many more sleepy bedtime stories and soothing meditations to which the whole family can listen along.
2023-05-2040 minPneuma with Daniel FinneranBrideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh | Fall ASLEEP With MezzzzZZZZzzzz😴😴😴Hello everyone! Welcome to this latest installment of “Fall Asleep With Me”.In this series, I read classic bedtime stories and great works of literature to which you can (and most assuredly WILL) fall asleep! Tonight’s episode is a sleepy, dream-inducing reading of “Brideshead Revisited” by Evelyn Waugh. Please subscribe to this channel for many more sleepy bedtime stories and soothing meditations to which the whole family can listen along.
2023-05-2040 minPneuma with Daniel FinneranHow To Breathe As Nature Intended: (Deeply) With Your DIAPHRAGM!To breathe deeply into the abdomen with the diaphragm–that’s precisely the way in which Nature intended us to breathe! And yet…We’ve unlearned this simple technique (for which a remedial lesson is urgently needed!)Together, let’s relearn how to breathe properly. Follow along, and–within a few minutes’ time–you’ll significantly improve the quality of each breath. You’ll lower your stress, improve the structure of your palate and face, and appear much more confident and refined...
2023-05-1523 minPneuma with Daniel FinneranHow To Breathe As Nature Intended: (Deeply) With Your DIAPHRAGM!To breathe deeply into the abdomen with the diaphragm–that’s precisely the way in which Nature intended us to breathe! And yet…We’ve unlearned this simple technique (for which a remedial lesson is urgently needed!)Together, let’s relearn how to breathe properly. Follow along, and–within a few minutes’ time–you’ll significantly improve the quality of each breath. You’ll lower your stress, improve the structure of your palate and face, and appear much more confident and refined...
2023-05-1523 minPneuma with Daniel FinneranHow To MASTER Your EMOTIONS! (It's Easier Than You Think!)Are you ready? Here’s the secret: Gaining mastery over your emotions is as simple as replacing one word with another. When angry, do you say: “I am angry”? Try this: the next time that you’re visited by the emotion of anger, simply substitute the word “feel” for “am”. “I feel angry” is much different from “I am angry”. Feelings are fleeting. They are visitors to which you can either open or close your...
2023-05-0529 minPneuma with Daniel FinneranHow To MASTER Your EMOTIONS! (It's Easier Than You Think!)Are you ready? Here’s the secret: Gaining mastery over your emotions is as simple as replacing one word with another. When angry, do you say: “I am angry”? Try this: the next time that you’re visited by the emotion of anger, simply substitute the word “feel” for “am”. “I feel angry” is much different from “I am angry”. Feelings are fleeting. They are visitors to which you can either open or close your...
2023-05-0529 minPneuma with Daniel FinneranA Guided GROUNDING Meditation | My Personal Technique (ADVANCED)Grounding (or mindfully connecting your bare feet to the earth) is one of the simplest, least expensive, and most powerful things that you can do for your health. And guess what? With a little guidance, it’s something at which you can become an expert in just a few minutes’ time! In this episode, I’ll help you to become a “grounding” pro! I’ll lead you through my own grounding practice, to which I religiously commit a few minutes every single day, no matter the weat...
2023-04-2732 minPneuma with Daniel FinneranA Guided GROUNDING Meditation | My Personal Technique (ADVANCED)Grounding (or mindfully connecting your bare feet to the earth) is one of the simplest, least expensive, and most powerful things that you can do for your health. And guess what? With a little guidance, it’s something at which you can become an expert in just a few minutes’ time! In this episode, I’ll help you to become a “grounding” pro! I’ll lead you through my own grounding practice, to which I religiously commit a few minutes every single day, no matter the weat...
2023-04-2732 minPneuma with Daniel FinneranA DEVIL’S Response to HAMLET’S Big Question: “To Be Or Not To Be”?In a previous episode, we meditated over a question than which, in my opinion, there simply is none bigger, more profound, nor more important: “TO BE, OR NOT TO BE”. (Or, in other words: to keep on living, or to give up and die).This is the famously quotable line with which Act III of Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” opens. Hamlet, the troubled Prince of Denmark does what he does best: he dithers. I suppose, ultimately, he decides NOT to be (a decisio...
2023-04-0640 minPneuma with Daniel Finneran“You Don’t Know What You’ve Got Till It’s GONE”: How Deprivation Sharpens Our Idea of ValueDon’t it always seem to goThat you don’t know what you’ve gotTill it’s gone…The legendary Joni Mitchell (to whom the Counting Crows don’t hold a candle!) said it best: “You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone”. GK Chesterton, the great English essayist, cultural critic, and Christian apologist of the early 20th-century wrote something very similar in his article, “On Being Moved”. In it, he said: “For it is the point of all deprivation that it (deprivat...
2023-03-3142 minPneuma with Daniel Finneran“You Don’t Know What You’ve Got Till It’s GONE”: How Deprivation Sharpens Our Idea of ValueDon’t it always seem to goThat you don’t know what you’ve gotTill it’s gone…The legendary Joni Mitchell (to whom the Counting Crows don’t hold a candle!) said it best: “You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone”. GK Chesterton, the great English essayist, cultural critic, and Christian apologist of the early 20th-century wrote something very similar in his article, “On Being Moved”. In it, he said: “For it is the point of all deprivation that it (deprivat...
2023-03-3142 minPneuma with Daniel FinneranNourishment For The Body and Soul: Getting to the MARROW of LifeThe marrow–be it of a bone or of a book–is the deepest, healthiest, most sought-after thing that we can nourish ourselves with. It is the hidden flake of gold, the buried piece of diamond for which we all dig–than which every lustrous rock and special stone is far less valuable. In this episode, we draw our inspiration from the great French Renaissance writer, François Rabelais. In his immortal book, “Gargantua”, Rabelais compares a dog (crowned by Plato as the animal kingdom’s most...
2023-03-2530 minPneuma with Daniel FinneranA Meditation on Life's BIGGEST Question: “To be, or not to be?”“To be, or not to be, that is the question…”Verily, ‘tis a line quotable not only by every English-speaker, but most non-English-speakers who are scattered across the world. And while it deserves, and shall forever deserve, our quotation, it no less demands our contemplation. I’m convinced that this line, and the entire passage of which it’s the opening and defining part, is more than mere poetry, scribbled out by a short-lived bibulous bard at the end of the sixteenth century.No.It is, in no exaggerated terms, life’s...
2023-03-1945 minPneuma with Daniel FinneranA Meditation on Life's BIGGEST Question: “To be, or not to be?”“To be, or not to be, that is the question…”Verily, ‘tis a line quotable not only by every English-speaker, but most non-English-speakers who are scattered across the world. And while it deserves, and shall forever deserve, our quotation, it no less demands our contemplation. I’m convinced that this line, and the entire passage of which it’s the opening and defining part, is more than mere poetry, scribbled out by a short-lived bibulous bard at the end of the sixteenth century.No.It is, in no exaggerated terms, life’s...
2023-03-1945 minPneuma with Daniel Finneran20-Minute Morning Affirmations To Build Your CONFIDENCEGood morning! Are you looking to boost your confidence as you prepare for the trials and tribulations of the day ahead? Are you looking to uplift your spirit and strengthen your resolve as you embark upon a new and daunting journey? I can assure you: you’ve come to the right place! Take a seat, close your eyes, attend to your breathing, and join me on this 15-minute affirmation meditation, at the end of which your confidence will be comple...
2023-03-0924 minPneuma with Daniel Finneran20-Minute Morning Affirmations To Build Your CONFIDENCEGood morning! Are you looking to boost your confidence as you prepare for the trials and tribulations of the day ahead? Are you looking to uplift your spirit and strengthen your resolve as you embark upon a new and daunting journey? I can assure you: you’ve come to the right place! Take a seat, close your eyes, attend to your breathing, and join me on this 15-minute affirmation meditation, at the end of which your confidence will be comple...
2023-03-0924 minPneuma with Daniel FinneranHow to Keep Calm in a Crazy World | A Gentle Guided MeditationNo doubt—this world in which we live is a crazy one! From political unrest, to economic uncertainty, to global pandemics, and interminable wars, you might begin to feel as if there’s no escape. Rest assured, there is. The path is simple: all you need to do is retire into yourself and find your inner peace. Join me on this soothing meditation to rediscover your inner peace and, above all, to keep your calm in what is, by any meas...
2023-03-0355 minPneuma with Daniel FinneranLife Lessons From YouTube's SLEEP GURU | Jason StephensonJason Stephenson is the founder and host of the wildly popular YouTube channel, “Jason Stephenson: Sleep Meditation Music” to which some 3 million people (and counting!) are subscribed. Since joining the platform in 2011, Jason’s videos on sleep, mindfulness, meditation, music, nature, life, and breathing have amassed over 700 million views–a number to which I’m honored to say I’ve contributed!In this conversation, Jason and I discuss…His tumultuous background and how it led him to a life devoted to wellness; quitting his job in order to pursue his true passion; the prodigious grow...
2023-02-251h 37Pneuma with Daniel FinneranLife Lessons From YouTube's SLEEP GURU | Jason StephensonJason Stephenson is the founder and host of the wildly popular YouTube channel, “Jason Stephenson: Sleep Meditation Music” to which some 3 million people (and counting!) are subscribed. Since joining the platform in 2011, Jason’s videos on sleep, mindfulness, meditation, music, nature, life, and breathing have amassed over 700 million views–a number to which I’m honored to say I’ve contributed!In this conversation, Jason and I discuss…His tumultuous background and how it led him to a life devoted to wellness; quitting his job in order to pursue his true passion; the prodigious grow...
2023-02-251h 37Pneuma with Daniel FinneranSailing to Byzantium by WB Yeats | The Great Poems Of All TimeWilliam Butler (WB) Yeats (1865 - 1939) was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer, and statesman. A poet to whom I was introduced at the tender age of twelve, Yeats has continued to inhabit a special place in my heart. His finest work, in my opinion, is "Sailing to Byzantium". After the collapse of Rome in the fifth century AD, the center of European culture shifted east to the Golden Horn. Renamed "Constantinople" after the famed Christian Emperor, Byzantium was, to Yeats, the spiritual homeland to which, in a modern world overcome by materialism, he yearned to return.
2023-02-1907 minPneuma with Daniel FinneranA Celebration Of The Sun: Gratitude For Our Great Star AboveThomas Traherne (1636-74) was an English poet, writer, theologian, and Anglican cleric to whom I was recently introduced.His only extant work, Centuries of Meditations, completely swept me away. It’s a short but powerful book with which you should spend an afternoon. In this episode, we’ll focus on a couple of passages from Traherne’s Meditations. In them, he lists the countless gifts that the sun bestows upon us every single day–of which we’re almost always unmindful, and for which we’re hardly ever grateful.
2023-02-1230 minPneuma with Daniel FinneranA Simple 4-7-8 Breathing Exercise | On The BeachThe 4-7-8 breathing exercise, of which the great Dr. Andrew Weil is widely-acknowledged to be the inventor, is simple and effective. You need only do the following: inhale for 4 seconds; hold the breath for 7 seconds; and exhale for 8 seconds. That constitutes one cycle. You'll then repeat this sequence for a total of four cycles. Perform this at least twice a day. A little "behind the scenes": this episode, which was completely unscripted, was recorded while I was sitting on the beach. Sadly, I was a bit too far away from the shoreline to capture the calming m...
2023-02-0705 minPneuma with Daniel FinneranA Simple 4-7-8 Breathing Exercise | On The BeachThe 4-7-8 breathing exercise, of which the great Dr. Andrew Weil is widely-acknowledged to be the inventor, is simple and effective. You need only do the following: inhale for 4 seconds; hold the breath for 7 seconds; and exhale for 8 seconds. That constitutes one cycle. You'll then repeat this sequence for a total of four cycles. Perform this at least twice a day. A little "behind the scenes": this episode, which was completely unscripted, was recorded while I was sitting on the beach. Sadly, I was a bit too far away from the shoreline to capture the calming m...
2023-02-0705 minPneuma with Daniel FinneranIf-- by Rudyard Kipling | The Great Poems Of All TimeRudyard Kipling (1865-1936) was an English poet, journalist, and author of short stories. An unbending defender of the British imperial project, his reputation has suffered in recent years. Many of his detractors today echo the judgment rendered by George Orwell, who called him, in positively venomous terms, a morally insensitive, aesthetically disgusting, brutal, sadistic, jingo imperialist. Well then! Despite Orwell's unflattering assessment of his near contemporary, Kipling's finest poem, "If--", is one you'll want to commit to memory. It's a brief, beautiful work that you can memorize in but a few weeks' time. Untarnished by politics, inspirational from its first...
2023-01-2906 minPneuma with Daniel FinneranA Quick, Calming Breathing Meditation At The BeachThe title says it all! After a peaceful morning spent reading on the beach, I took a few minutes to absorb all the natural beauty, tranquility, picturesqueness, and happiness that surrounded me. Join me and interrupt your day with the gentle sound of waves rolling on the beach, wind blowing through the trees, laughter dancing in the air, music echoing in every direction, and--the least euphonious of the aforementioned--my calming voice leading you through a simple breathing exercise. Visit my website at pneumameditation.com and send me an email at pneuma.finneran@gmail.comVisit my...
2023-01-2510 minPneuma with Daniel FinneranTreat Your Feet Right! Basic Strength, Balance, and Grounding For A Healthier BaseEncased by slippers, sneakers, and shoes all day, our poor feet are suffering from the mistreatment of modernity. For twelve, sixteen, eighteen hours, they're confined to ill-fitting shoes from which they want nothing better than to be set free. Sadly, they're prohibited, for almost the entirety of their life, from bending, bearing, feeling, and moving as the Author of nature intended. In this episode, we'll go through a few simple exercises that can help restore the strength, flexibility, and sensitivity of the feet. Repeat this every day, and, before you know it, you'll have greatly improved your s...
2023-01-2017 minPneuma with Daniel FinneranTreat Your Feet Right! Basic Strength, Balance, and Grounding For A Healthier BaseEncased by slippers, sneakers, and shoes all day, our poor feet are suffering from the mistreatment of modernity. For twelve, sixteen, eighteen hours, they're confined to ill-fitting shoes from which they want nothing better than to be set free. Sadly, they're prohibited, for almost the entirety of their life, from bending, bearing, feeling, and moving as the Author of nature intended. In this episode, we'll go through a few simple exercises that can help restore the strength, flexibility, and sensitivity of the feet. Repeat this every day, and, before you know it, you'll have greatly improved your s...
2023-01-2017 minPneuma with Daniel FinneranMomotaro (The Peach Boy) | Fall Asleep With MeThe story of Momotaro (the "Peach Boy") is one of the most famous and beloved in Japanese folklore.Born of a giant peach that was floating down the river, Momotaro was adopted by an elderly couple that was incapable of having a child of its own. Nurtured by his parents' unremitting love and care, Momotaro grew to be a big, virtuous, strong young man. Eventually, he set out to confront the nasty demons who made a habit of terrorizing Japan. Try, if you can, to listen to the entirety of this very special Sleep Story. I...
2023-01-1342 minPneuma with Daniel FinneranA Meditation on Human Nature with Machiavelli and The BuddhaI'll bet that you weren't expecting to see those two names joined together! Such are the promiscuous and varied sources from whom we here on Pneuma draw our inspiration. We look at once to the courtly Florentine political philosopher (by whom the murderous Medici were, for better or worse, advised), and to the ascetic Indian sage who, in the sixth century BC, attained enlightenment and enjoyed an apotheosis. In this episode, we'll examine one of the fundamental features of human nature: the insatiability of our appetite. We desire everything, but, in our lifetime, we're only ab...
2022-11-0424 minPneuma with Daniel FinneranA Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens | Fall Asleep With Me"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..."Is there, in all literature, an opening line with which more minds are stamped? A passage more famous and quotable than that with which Dickens' timeless classic begins? I think not! Set in those two great centers of learning and culture, London and Paris, before and during the French Revolution, A Tale of Two Cities follows the tribulations of Dr. Manette, his blue-eyed daughter, Lucie, and her dashing, strong-willed husband, the expatriate Charles Darnay. It is, according to every c...
2022-10-1536 minPneuma with Daniel FinneranGuided Meditation For When You're On An AirplaneNot even the most experienced traveler (to whom thousands of valuable “miles” and precious points have accrued!) is totally immune to the uneasiness and discomfort associated with flight. These feelings, sadly, are an inescapable part of our airborne journeys. In this episode, we’ll go through a mediation by which our stresses will be quieted, our equanimity restored, and our flight made much more peaceful and, perhaps, enjoyable. We’ll perform a simple breathing exercise, a gentle body scan, an act of thanksgiving and appreciatio...
2022-10-1029 minPneuma with Daniel FinneranGuided Meditation For When You're On An AirplaneNot even the most experienced traveler (to whom thousands of valuable “miles” and precious points have accrued!) is totally immune to the uneasiness and discomfort associated with flight. These feelings, sadly, are an inescapable part of our airborne journeys. In this episode, we’ll go through a mediation by which our stresses will be quieted, our equanimity restored, and our flight made much more peaceful and, perhaps, enjoyable. We’ll perform a simple breathing exercise, a gentle body scan, an act of thanksgiving and appreciatio...
2022-10-1029 minPneuma with Daniel FinneranHow To Lose Weight Like a Stoic"To live in accordance with nature". That, in its simplest form, is the central principle around which the entire philosophy of Stoicism revolves. To live in accordance with nature is to practice the four virtues (temperance, prudence, justice, and courage) for which we all have an inborn aptitude and reverence. It’s to elevate temperance, the virtue of moderation, self-control, self-possession, and self-governance, above the lower appetites by which we’re too easily overcome. In this episode, we’ll talk about the virtue of temperanc...
2022-10-0527 minPneuma with Daniel FinneranHow To Lose Weight Like a Stoic"To live in accordance with nature". That, in its simplest form, is the central principle around which the entire philosophy of Stoicism revolves. To live in accordance with nature is to practice the four virtues (temperance, prudence, justice, and courage) for which we all have an inborn aptitude and reverence. It’s to elevate temperance, the virtue of moderation, self-control, self-possession, and self-governance, above the lower appetites by which we’re too easily overcome. In this episode, we’ll talk about the virtue of temperanc...
2022-10-0527 minPneuma with Daniel FinneranIs Happiness Attainable in THIS Life?Can you be happy in this life? Can anyone, for that matter, be happy (I mean truly happy) in this life?Join me, Aristotle, and St. Thomas Aquinas as we address this difficult question. Be sure to subscribe to and follow this channel. Leave a Five-star rating on it and share it with friends! Finneran’s WakeListen to some fascinating conversations on your favorite podcast streaming service: Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/74eUg83Q8zOgaRA5EBuzyl?si=871b6aa8082146af. Apple https://podcasts.apple...
2022-09-2329 minPneuma with Daniel FinneranIs Happiness Attainable in THIS Life?Can you be happy in this life? Can anyone, for that matter, be happy (I mean truly happy) in this life?Join me, Aristotle, and St. Thomas Aquinas as we address this difficult question. Be sure to subscribe to and follow this channel. Leave a Five-star rating on it and share it with friends! Finneran’s WakeListen to some fascinating conversations on your favorite podcast streaming service: Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/74eUg83Q8zOgaRA5EBuzyl?si=871b6aa8082146af. Apple https://podcasts.apple...
2022-09-2329 minPneuma with Daniel FinneranConfessions of an English Opium Eater by Thomas De Quincey | Fall Asleep With Me#sleep #bedtimestories #bedtime #relaxing #calming #soothing Get comfortable! Here's an excerpt from Thomas De Quincey's intoxicating work, "Confessions of an English Opium Eater". The title, I think, says it all. De Quincey's confessional joins a timeless genre to which such luminary names as St. Augustine and Jean-Jacques Rousseau contributed. In this excerpt, you'll learn how the esteemed British author got hooked on the soporific drug, against whose recreational or medicinal use he's not exactly explicit in warning us! Here on Pneuma, it should be said, we promote sobriety and whole...
2022-09-1830 minPneuma with Daniel FinneranHow To Think About The Sublime And Beautiful: A Lesson In Aesthetics For EveryoneRefine your aesthetic sense, heighten your appreciation for nature's splendor, learn what it means to experience the sublime and the beautiful.
This episode, at whose center the great Irish philosopher Edmund Burke stands, is something of a didactic meditation. In it, you'll learn how to think about the sublime and the beautiful, and how to talk about aesthetics in a more sophisticated way.
If you enjoy this content, please subscribe to or follow this channel! Share it with friends and visit my YouTube Channel.
Be sure to visit my sister podcast/YouTube Channel, Finneran's Wake
2022-09-1441 minPneuma with Daniel FinneranGentle Stretches for the Relief of Neck Pain and Tension (Delivered to You by a Buttery-Smooth Voice!)That bothersome, inescapable tension in which your sore neck is all "knotted up"...
Well, it's about to be unravelled.
If these simple stretches don't put your neck at ease, the buttery-smooth cooing of my voice just might.
Check out my new YouTube channel, "Pneuma by Daniel Finneran", on which I'll post an accompanying video.
And visit my sister channels, Finneran's Wake (YouTube and podcast) and Finneran's Wake for Kids for more content.
2022-09-1023 minPneuma with Daniel FinneranGentle Stretches for the Relief of Neck Pain and Tension (Delivered to You by a Buttery-Smooth Voice!)That bothersome, inescapable tension in which your sore neck is all "knotted up"...
Well, it's about to be unravelled.
If these simple stretches don't put your neck at ease, the buttery-smooth cooing of my voice just might.
Check out my new YouTube channel, "Pneuma by Daniel Finneran", on which I'll post an accompanying video.
And visit my sister channels, Finneran's Wake (YouTube and podcast) and Finneran's Wake for Kids for more content.
2022-09-1023 minPneuma with Daniel FinneranFood, Shelter, Clothing - How Our Most Basic Needs Become Our UndoingFood, shelter, and clothing--these are the fundamental needs without which we can't long live, the biologic claims on us to which we can't be inattentive (lest we cease to exist!)
We all know this to be true, but these things quickly become, once we detach ourselves from the modest demands of nature, ostentatious treasures, immoderate indulgences to which we become lost.
Let's think about these basic needs and the the ways in which they become perverted into sumptuous feasts, capacious dwellings, and expensive, fashionable clothes.
Be sure to follow or subscribe to this channel, and leave a five-star Rating! Visit...
2022-09-0814 minPneuma with Daniel FinneranLearn to Love and Celebrate the Morning! It's the Most Memorable Season of the DayAre you most decidedly NOT a morning "person"? Listen to this episode, inspired by the wisdom of Henry David Thoreau, and your affirmed dislike of the dawn might just change!
“All memorable events transpire in morning time and in a morning atmosphere. The Vedas say, ‘All intelligences awake with the morning’. Poetry and art, and the fairest and most memorable of the actions of men, date from such an hour. All poets and heroes, like Agamemnon and Achilles, are the children of Aurora, and emit their music at sunrise”.
May you be a child of Aurora, the dawn, the morning as well...
2022-09-0625 minPneuma with Daniel FinneranLearn to Love and Celebrate the Morning! It's the Most Memorable Season of the DayAre you most decidedly NOT a morning "person"? Listen to this episode, inspired by the wisdom of Henry David Thoreau, and your affirmed dislike of the dawn might just change!
“All memorable events transpire in morning time and in a morning atmosphere. The Vedas say, ‘All intelligences awake with the morning’. Poetry and art, and the fairest and most memorable of the actions of men, date from such an hour. All poets and heroes, like Agamemnon and Achilles, are the children of Aurora, and emit their music at sunrise”.
May you be a child of Aurora, the dawn, the morning as well...
2022-09-0625 minPneuma with Daniel FinneranWalden by Henry David Thoreau | Fall Asleep With MeAn excerpt from Henry David Thoreau's enduring contribution to the great American canon: Walden.
Picture yourself nestled in bed, encased in blankets, warmed by the embers of a fading fire. You're in a tiny cottage on the northern banks of Walden Pond, a cool, limpid body of water off whose pristine surface, a chilly breeze is now blowing. The chime of the crickets, the lapping of the waves, the crackling of the fire, (the sound of my voice!)--these are the sounds by which your sleepy ears are tickled.
If you have a book you want read in a sleepy...
2022-09-0331 minPneuma with Daniel FinneranThe Bible: Genesis | Fall Asleep with MeA reading of Genesis from the Hebrew Bible. Fall asleep to the most majestic tale ever told (or sacred truth revealed).
IF you succeed in staying awake through this episode (a feat of which only the most caffeinated among you has any real chance!), you'll hear the timeless story of creation; day by day, how the vast cosmos came into being; the earth and all its verdure; the sea and all its fathomless splendor; the birth of man, the molding of his helpmate, woman, and their fatal transgression of the one prohibitory law; A sin and the the expulsion of...
2022-08-1738 minPneuma with Daniel FinneranCzeslaw Milosz; Unity in Multiplicity; E Pluribus Unum; Art; Personality; the Divine; Parmenides| Jog Your Mind - Episode 3After a 10-mile run, join me as I cool down on my spin bike and air my thoughts!
This episode covers the idea of "Unity in Multiplicity", a phrase to which the great Polish-American poet, Czeslaw Milosz makes reference. I expound upon this idea, which leads me to think about art, nature, personalities, God, and Parmenides--the Pre-Socratic philosopher to whom Unity, or oneness, was the fundamental truth of all being and life.
Be sure to subscribe to this channel and leave a review! Send me a note at pneuma.finneran@gmail.com.
2022-08-1315 minPneuma with Daniel FinneranWorks and Days by Hesiod | Fall Asleep with MeWorks and Days, by which restful nights are made all the sweeter. You're going to love this super sleep-inducing tale first told by Hesiod, a Greek poet of the 7th-century BC, who was a contemporary of Homer, an inspiration to Plato, and a hero of mine.
IF you succeed in staying awake through this episode (a feat of which only the most caffeinated among you has any real chance!), you'll hear the story of Prometheus' punishment; the creation of Pandora, the first mortal woman to step foot on earth; the reason behind her name; her eponymous jar (not a BOX...
2022-08-1235 minPneuma with Daniel FinneranWorldly Possessions: Do You Possess Them? Or Do THEY Possess You?How should we think about our manifold worldly possessions?--the cars, clothes, houses, boats, bags, and countless fancy electronic gadgets by which we’re everywhere surrounded (and, whether we notice their encroachment on us or not, increasingly consumed?) Do we submit to and agree to be enslaved by them? Or, resisting their claim on us, do we fight, renounce, and abstain from them entirely?
Perhaps there’s a middle path.
In this episode, we’ll explore two ways of dealing with the problem of worldly possessions: one offered by Aristippos the Cyrenaic, and the other by Antisthenes, the ascetic. Both bear t...
2022-08-1123 minPneuma with Daniel FinneranWorldly Possessions: Do You Possess Them? Or Do THEY Possess You?How should we think about our manifold worldly possessions?--the cars, clothes, houses, boats, bags, and countless fancy electronic gadgets by which we’re everywhere surrounded (and, whether we notice their encroachment on us or not, increasingly consumed?) Do we submit to and agree to be enslaved by them? Or, resisting their claim on us, do we fight, renounce, and abstain from them entirely?
Perhaps there’s a middle path.
In this episode, we’ll explore two ways of dealing with the problem of worldly possessions: one offered by Aristippos the Cyrenaic, and the other by Antisthenes, the ascetic. Both bear t...
2022-08-1123 minPneuma with Daniel FinneranSun Yourself Like a Cynic - A Philosopher's Guide to SunbathingMy advice to you this summer: Sun yourself like a Cynic!
That's right--like a Cynic!
Diogenes the Dog, founder of the Cynic school of philosophy, liked nothing better than to bask all day in the sun. Perhaps he didn't know that, by so doing, he was generating vitamin D, increasing his testosterone, heightening his serotonin, setting his Circadian clock, and extending his life. He just knew how to live best--how to live simply and in accordance with nature (an idea on which the Stoics later grounded their own philosophy). Even in the presence of a powerful king, Alexander the Great...
2022-08-0234 minPneuma with Daniel FinneranSun Yourself Like a Cynic - A Philosopher's Guide to SunbathingMy advice to you this summer: Sun yourself like a Cynic!
That's right--like a Cynic!
Diogenes the Dog, founder of the Cynic school of philosophy, liked nothing better than to bask all day in the sun. Perhaps he didn't know that, by so doing, he was generating vitamin D, increasing his testosterone, heightening his serotonin, setting his Circadian clock, and extending his life. He just knew how to live best--how to live simply and in accordance with nature (an idea on which the Stoics later grounded their own philosophy). Even in the presence of a powerful king, Alexander the Great...
2022-08-0234 minPneuma with Daniel FinneranIn The Garden Of Life, Sow Great Thoughts. A Great Destiny Will Blossom“Sow a thought and you reap an action; sow an act and you reap a habit; sow a habit and you reap a character; sow a character and you reap a destiny.”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Can a simple thought truly influence your destiny? Can a state of mind, so easily adopted, really make you into the person whom you want to be? Join me on this episode as we explore the power of thoughts and how they, more than anything else, help to determine your destiny.
Check out my latest work, Finneran's Wake For Kids, for stories about heroes and...
2022-07-2122 minPneuma with Daniel FinneranDo You Want a Transcendent Experience? (For Free?!) Go Out Into Nature, and Connect with a TreeI grant you, it all sounds a little bit too "hippie" and "green", too earthy and primitive for you, my civilized and sophisticated listener, but you'll be absolutely AMAZED by how transcendent it can be to simply examine, admire, and celebrate a tree--that marvel of nature by which, almost everywhere you look, you're quietly surrounded (and, if you'll notice, made to feel quite small).
Appreciating a tree, silly though it sounds, is a powerful way to practice mindfulness, to become attentive to detail, to cultivate a poetic spirit, to fall in love with nature, to feel gratitude for life, to...
2022-07-1723 minPneuma with Daniel FinneranYour Complete Guide to Sleep: From Sunrise to Sunset, How to Prepare for and Enjoy a Blissful, Restful Night“O sleep! O gentle sleep! Nature’s soft nurse, how have I frighted thee, that thou no more wilt weigh my eyelids down and steep my senses in forgetfulness?” - Shakespeare
Let’s reacquaint ourselves with gentle sleep. Let’s return to Nature’s soft nurse, into whose cozy bosom we hasten when the night is near.
Beginning at sunrise, ending at bedtime, this episode will give you simple tips to have a great night’s sleep. Sweet dreams!
Subscribe and leave a 5-star rating!
Visit my sister podcast, "Finneran's Wake" for stimulating talks about news, philosophy, history, and politics.
2022-06-1840 min