Pneuma by Daniel Finneran: Recent Episodes
Daniel Ethan Finneran
Mindfulness for the Thinking Mind.
A soothing, soporific voice with which to calm and center yourself.
Episodes on themes as diverse as walking, sleeping, stretching, anxiety, worldly possessions, positive affirmations, lunch hours, and morning commutes. Meditations and sleep stories for every occasion at any stage of life.
From Shakespeare to the Stoics, Coleridge to the Platonists, the Buddha to the Transcendentalists, we'll borrow our wisdom from the best who have ever thought, and strengthen our minds with their collective genius.
I hope you enjoy this content!
Please subscribe to this channel, share it with friends, and email me with suggestions, comments, or thoughts at pneuma.finneran@gmail.com
Charlotte Brontë (nom de plume "Currer Bell") was an English novelist.
She lived between 1816 - 1855.
She was the eldest (and most gifted) of an immensely talented trio of sisters, which included Emily and Anne.
Her most famous work, “Jane Eyre” is also one of the finest in the English language.
In this episode of “Fall Asleep With Me”, I read one of my favorite scenes: that in which our eponymous heroine, Jane Eyre, encounters the dashing Mr. Rochester in the garden at dusk.
Please consider subscribing to this channel for more sleep stories, meditations, and soothing content!
Visit my YouTube page @pneumabydanielfinneran
And my sister project @finneranswake
Thank you.
Join me for an Alternate Nostril Breathing Session!
This simple breathing technique, to which I commit a few minutes every single day, is deceptively powerful.
Not only does it invigorate me with fresh oxygen and vital energy, but it helps to balance my body–the left side with the right.
This episode is a simple tutorial to which anyone can follow along.
If you like this content, be sure to subscribe to the channel!
If you really want to stimulate your mind, check out my sister channel, @finneranswake, on which I hold conversations with a variety of interesting guests.
George Eliot (the manly nom de plume behind which Mary Ann Evans cloaked her true identity) was an English novelist.
She lived between 1819-1880.
Her most famous work, “Middlemarch” is also one of the finest in the English language.
In this episode of “Fall Asleep With Me”, I read one of my favorite scenes: that in which Will Ladislaw and Dorothea Casaubon (finally) express their love—in word and deed.
Please consider subscribing to this channel for more sleep stories and soothing content!
Thank you.
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 Eternal Recurrence and think about it deeply.
Please send your comments to pneuma.finneran@gmail.com
With affection,
Daniel
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 episode is dedicated.
If you find this content different and stimulating, enlightening and soothing, do consider giving it a “thumbs-up” or a five-star rating. Be sure to share it with friends and family and subscribe to this channel.
With affection,
Daniel
I'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 able to obtain a small amount of that for which we hunger. This leads to discontentment, dissatisfaction, and suffering.
We will explore the themes of appetite, desire (its origins and its overcoming), temperance, eastern and western philosophy, and much more.
Visit my website, pneumameditations.com
Visit my sister podcast and website
finneranswake.com
Finneran's Wake
"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 clear-thinking reader, one of Western literature's finest works of historical fiction.
While we all know and repeat the book's opening line, I ask you, do you remember the somewhat lesser-known sentence with which it ends?
"It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known".
Precisely our goal!--A "far, far better rest" awaits you (not the rest of death), if you'll only listen to this episode with me!
If you have a favorite book that you want read in a sleepy style, or if you're the author of an original work to which you'd like to draw more attention, drop me a line at pneuma.finneran@gmail.com. I will read it on this show.
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Not 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 appreciation, and a few stretches with which to calibrate our bodies and minds.
Don’t forget to follow, subscribe to, like, or share this episode with a friend!
Visit my sister podcasts, Finneran’s Wake and Finneran’s Wake For Kids for more content.
Thank you and Bon Voyage!
"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 temperance as it pertains to (over) eating and how you might implement some of the lessons of the Stoics to address your issues with weight.
I know…it’s a sensitive topic. I recoil at the mere thought of offending anyone’s feelings, but I think the content has the potential to do some good.
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Visit my sister podcast and YouTube channel, Finneran’s Wake and Finneran’s Wake for Kids.
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.
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Finneran’s Wake
Listen to some fascinating conversations on your favorite podcast streaming service:
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Apple https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/finnerans-wake/id1560923796.
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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, above all else. My reading of De Quincey is not an endorsement of his inebriated approach to life!
If you have a book you want read in a sleepy style, or if you have an original work that you'd like me to read, drop me a line at pneuma.finneran@gmail.com.
Be sure to subscribe to this channel and leave a five-star rating!
Refine 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
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.
Food, 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 my other channel, Finneran's Wake, for more content.
Are 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.
Follow or subscribe to this channel and be sure to check out my other projects, "Finneran's Wake" and "Finneran's Wake For Kids"
An 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 style, or if you have an original work that you'd like me to read, drop me a line at pneuma.finneran@gmail.com.
Be sure to subscribe to this channel and leave a five-star rating!
Wisdom, according to Cicero, is the "Mother of all good things". Yet, wisdom, this benevolent benefactress, is evasive; she's not only difficult to obtain, but hard to define.
Depending on the context, we crown her with the following names: prudence, phronesis, or, best of all, Sophia.
In this episode, we'll explore our benevolent mother, Wisdom, in all her various forms; connect Cicero (a Roman statesman who lived in the last century before the birth of Jesus) to holy scripture; and think about the ancient Greek aphorism, "Know Yourself"--a knowledge on which heavenly wisdom pours her radiant light.
Thank you for listening!
Join me as we meditate on the beach this fine day! Liberate your feet from those restrictive shoes in which they're cramped, and feel the warm, soft sand dance between your toes. Fix your gaze upon the blue ocean and the thin horizon, of whose imponderable depth and vastness we have only the faintest notion! As you do this, we'll spend some time thinking about the sublime. We'll look to the insight of Edmund Burke, who wrote the book on the subject.
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A 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 which we'll forever lament. 'Tis the greatest story ever told, from which all other stories draw their life.
If you have a book you want read in a sleepy style, or if you have an original work that you'd like me to read, drop me a line at pneuma.finneran@gmail.com.
Be sure to subscribe to this channel and leave a five-star rating!
Behold! For those of us who want to eat like Titans, conquer like Olympians, think like philosophers, and thrive like the divine beings we were always meant to be, I introduce, for the first time, the “Promethean Diet”.
A diet of which you’ve probably never heard, The Promethean Diet (trademark pending…!) has sustained our species from the very beginning of time, from the earliest dawn of our creation when, with the aid of his bungling brother, Epimetheus, this diet’s namesake formed us out of clay.
Prometheus, devoted to our continued wellbeing, secured for us the choicest foods after which the gods of Olympus all savored: richly marbled meats and densely nutritious entrails, accompanied by seasonal fruits and nectarous ambrosia.
Cooked (medium rare!) by the fire that Prometheus retrieved for us, this is the nutrition plan than which there’s simply none better–and that to which I, your humble host, approvingly adhere.
Check out my earlier episode, “Guided Meditation for when you’ve overeaten”.
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Thank you so much, my friends! It’s an absolute honor to grace your ears.
After 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.
Works 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, mind you!) from which all the misfortunes of the world spilled, and in which hope, and nothing else, was retained; and the successive ages (or races) of mankind: gold, silver, bronze, with an heroic interlude, and iron.
If you have a book you want read in a sleepy style, or if you have an original work that you'd like me to read, drop me a line at pneuma.finneran@gmail.com.
Be sure to subscribe to this channel and leave a five-star rating!
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 the distinction of having been pupils of Socrates, the great master and father of Western philosophy under whom they studied till the end of his life.
Each man’s approach to this problem couldn’t be more different from that of his classmate. I’m curious to know with whom you’ll side…
Subscribe to this channel and leave a comment or a five-star rating. Visit my new YouTube page and my sister podcasts, Finneran’s Wake and Finneran’s Wake for Kids.
Your complete guide to establishing (and maintaining) an impeccable posture! Listen to this episode, incorporate its tips, and you'll be the envy of the slouching world. This episode has everything you need to know in order to stand in a strong, graceful, poised, and self-confident way.
Above all, remember the words of Oscar Wilde: "Style is largely dependent on the way the chin is worn". Wear it well, my friends.
Subscribe to this channel and leave a review or a five-star rating! Much gratitude and love, my friends!
In this episode of “Jog Your Mind”, I share with you the strange, stimulating, and, above all, unscripted thoughts by which my little brain is filled while running. Immediately upon finishing my run, I hop on my spin bike, turn on my microphone, and record those very thoughts for your listening pleasure.
In this episode, we cover the wonders of childhood; the Biblical exhortation that we become as children; Nietzsche’s three stages of spiritual development, ending in childhood; how to appreciate the grandeur of nature as a child, through whose eyes you should try to see all the beauty in this world.
Check out my YouTube channel for a video associated with this episode.
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“In the deep heart of man, care builds her nest, Over secret woes she broodeth there, Sleepless she rocks herself and scareth joy and rest”
Listen to this episode, and un-build care's brooding, scary nest. Quiet your cares, silence your worries, and enjoy a blissful night of sleep. Be sure to subscribe to this channel, leave a 5-star rating, and send me a flattering review in the morning! Sweet dreams.
In this inaugural episode of “Jog Your Mind”, I share with you the strange, stimulating, and, above all, unscripted thoughts by which my little brain is filled while running. Immediately upon finishing my run, I hop on my spin bike, turn on my microphone, and record those very thoughts for your listening pleasure.
In this episode, we cover perfect happiness; sublime felicity; whether or not you’ve ever experienced such a thing; what you’d be willing to sacrifice to live in that bliss forever; high German literature; tragedy; Goethe; and the Faustian Pact.
Be sure to subscribe, comment, and leave a five-star rating!
My 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, Diogenes' time in the sun wouldn't be intruded upon.
We'll talk about their legendary interaction, and the manifold benefits of basking in the sun. In venerating the sun, I hope to make of you a practicing Cynic!
Support Stoicism, wellness, and all things conducive to health by subscribing to this channel.
Visit my other podcasts, Finneran's Wake and Finneran's Wake For Kids for more content.
The second episode of my "Sleep Story" series, with which I hope to facilitate your transition to sleep. In this episode, I read to you an excerpt from Benjamin Disraeli's "Sybil". In it, we meet the titular character, Sybil, as she meditates on the deep, unbridgeable chasm in English society--the gap between the landed and landless, the rich and poor, the conquerors and oppressed--just before encountering the sympathetic aristocrat, Charles Egremont. Listen as long as you can. Hopefully, by its end, you're sound asleep. Leave me a five-star rating in the morning! Sweet dreams...
The inaugural episode of my "Sleep Story" series, with which I hope to facilitate your transition to sleep. In this episode, I read to you an excerpt from Jane Austen's finest work, "Pride and Prejudice". It's the moment in the story at which Lady Catherine (rather unsubtly, and with complete indecorum) tries to dissuade Elizabeth from pursuing Mr. Darcy--to whom Lady Catherine wishes to wed her own daughter. Listen as long as you can. Hopefully, by its end, you're sound asleep.
Venerated for his authorship of the Declaration of Independence, detested for his refusal, not only during, but after his life to emancipate his slaves, Thomas Jefferson inhabits, in the minds of many, an ambivalent place. He certainly does in mine.
That said, I urge you to reserve your judgment on a man from whom, all these years later, so much good advice and practical wisdom can still be gathered, especially if you've not yet thoroughly perused his written work (of which, as it happens, there are thousands of edifying pages).
In this episode, I venture neither to acquit nor convict Jefferson of his numerous crimes--all committed, of the course of decades, against his poor black brethren. Perhaps, in a future episode, I will offer my verdict.
For now, I wish only to expose you to his teachings as they pertain to the pursuit and acquisition of a good and well-ordered life, a topic with which we here on Pneuma chiefly concern ourselves, and about which Jefferson, a brilliant thinker, has much to say. We should listen.
“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 myths by which the entire family will be delighted, entertained, and educated!
I 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 humble oneself, to stand before and beneath something awesome, and to connect, as we too seldom do, with the earth.
Go outside, find a tree, and listen to this episode (and be sure to check the mailbox before returning inside). You'll be forever changed.
If nothing else, like all my other episodes on this channel, this episode has an alternative use as an excellent, non-pharmaceutical aid to sleep. Play it before going to bed for optimal effect.
And when you wake, visit my new podcast, "Finneran's Wake For Kids", on which I hope to entertain and enlighten the entire family.
“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.
Upon allllllll the rest of the world, it seems, sleep has been bestowed. Under the soft, caressing weight of warm covers, everyone's at peace. None stirs, none moves, none frets. All have retired to that blissful realm of dreams. From you, and you alone, this welcome gift's withheld. To you alone is the slumberous gate to heaven barred.
No longer. I will lead you through it. I will guide you back to sleep.
By you, I'm bidden, but unbothered. I join you anytime, at any hour, wherever you are. Together, let's taste the sweet dew drops of regained sleep.
Zzzzzzzz....
Every philosopher worth his salt has put forth, in one way or another, a theory of the "Good Life", and the means by which this universal goal to be obtained. In his pursuit of the "Good Life" or, Eudaimonia, each philosopher offered his unique guidance.
Aristotle advised the cultivation and practice of the virtues. Aristippos suggested indulgence and sybaritic excess. Zeno encouraged a life of Stoic resolve, lived in accordance with nature. While Epicurus, our subject for today, promoted pleasure, above all else.
Yet his conception of "pleasure" is not what you'd expect. Listen to this episode, and learn how to achieve the Good Life, Eudaimonia, the Epicurean way.
In America, two mass shootings have occurred in as many weeks. In all, thirty-one innocent lives have been claimed, and countless others traumatized by the dual horror to which they bore witness.
In this episode, I share with you my personal reflections on these two atrocities--that by which Buffalo, NY, and that by which Uvalde, TX were plagued. I share with you how I approach and think about these events.
When they occur (as inevitably they do), I seek the healing words of Seneca the Younger, William Shakespeare, Jesus, and the English Romantic poet, Charles Lamb. Theirs, I admit, is an imperfect medicine, and yet, they--more than anyone else--provide the salve by which heartache might be alleviated, and sadness lessened.
My deepest condolences extend to all involved.
Notice the sweet spring breeze: In what direction is it blowing? Does it carry with it, along its airy stream, the delicious fragrance of the season, that intoxicating mix of primrose, honeysuckle, and sweet iced tea? Of lilac, saw-dust, and fresh-mowed grass?
Ground your feet, gather your breath, begin to walk and...bathe in the breeze with me!
Do you hear that?
It’s the sound of nature in her naked dress, her blushing innocence, her primitive form–a form from which, with all our technology, comfort, and progress, we’re so far removed.
Listen to her song—it’s a masterwork of nature. It’s grander than Beethoven; more majestic than Mozart; more sublime than Debussy.
All it lacks is ears, your ears, with which to appreciate its native genius...
Enjoy your hike (even more!) with this guided meditation.
What is the ultimate state of being of which we’re all in pursuit? To what sort of existence do we all aspire?
The answer is simple: Eudaimonia.
Eudaimonia, that highest end to which every philosophical school is in service, is more than happiness, pleasure, or the base sensual gratification derived from touch or taste.
It’s a state of unperturbable contentment, sober fulfilment, tranquility, virtue, and quiet bliss. It’s conformity to nature, and sincerity with oneself.
And where is it found?
Listen, and you’ll soon know!
"What wondrous life is this I lead! Ripe apples drop about my head; the luscious clusters of the vine upon my mouth do crush their wine; The nectarine and curious peach into my hands themselves do reach; Stumbling on melons, as I pass, ensnared with flowers, I fall on grass."
A short, poetic meditation brought to us by Andrew Marvell. Most suitable for Spring!
Trapped in a line in the checkout aisle of the grocery store? If so, I can think of no better opportunity to practice mindfulness! Let's share fifteen thoughtful, reflective minutes as we wait for this line to move.
Shall we become Saunterers, one and all? The word is beautifully derived from idle people who roved about the country, in the Middle Ages, and asked charity, under pretense of going "à la Sainte Terre"--to the Holy Land. Eventually, seeing so many travelers pass along their crowded streets, the children exclaimed, “There goes a Sainte-Terrer”, a Saunterer, a Holy-Lander.
Every walk, so long as it’s properly done, should bring you to some Holy Land; every mile, an inch closer to an apotheosis; to a hill stretching up from Jerusalem to heaven, to a grand elevation touching the stars.
Join us, Thoreau and me, in practicing the "art of walking"!
“The morning, which is the most memorable season of the day, is the awakening hour. You should be awakened by your own newly acquired force and aspirations from within, accompanied by the undulations of celestial music—to a higher life than that from which you fell asleep”.
Hark!
Can you hear that divine music, to which only the most sensitive ears of morning are attuned? This early symphony fills the air, if only you’ll listen...
Listen to this episode, and transform into a "morning person" at once!
"If a man should stand by a limpid pure spring, and curse it, the spring never ceases sending up potable water; and if he should cast clay into it or filth, it will speedily disperse them and wash them out, and will not be at all polluted. How then shalt thou possess a perpetual fountain?" How will you be pure of mind, wholesome of spirit, unblemished by nonsense, and cleansed of the corruptions by which your equanimity is stained? You must look within, and dig your own fountain.
“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way”. If your attitude is such that it never consents to be bothered, unbothered you shall be.
“Nor ever fold our wings, And cease from wanderings, Nor steep our brows in slumber’s holy balm; Nor harken what the inner spirit sings, ‘There is no joy but calm!’"
Remember well, there is no joy, but calm.
Few are the certainties in life on which you can absolutely depend: that death will greet you, that taxes will bleed you, and that you will fail from time to time. Let's focus on how to respond to failure, the third of these ineluctable things.
Begin your day with this brief, energized, insightful practice--a session by which your level of arousal will be raised, and your temperament steadied.
'Tis true--we never repent of having eaten too little. Of having eaten too much, we cannot but feel ashamed. A moratorium seems to have been placed on our moderation, and we indulged on bubbly drinks and savory delights! Worry not. Let us meditate our way back to a healthier state of body and mind.
How much of our lives we spend thoughtlessly behind the wheel! Join me in this episode, and we'll make every mile meditative and rewarding.
"Nature seems to have implanted gratitude in all living creatures. Culture, on the other hand, which brings luxury and selfishness, has a tendency rather to weaken than promote this affection" - Samuel Johnson. Let us fix this unnatural imbalance, and work toward gratitude's promotion.
To some, hunger is a terrible affliction, for which the antidote of food is ravenously needed. To others, it's a ripe and ready prompt to stir your meditation. Join me in this episode as we think about hunger.
Is there any benefit to be derived from the mean people in your life? Are they necessarily a force for bad, and never one for good? Join me in this session, and learn how to benefit from these people.
"O Autumn, laden with fruit, and stained with the blood of the grape, pass not, but sit beneath my shady roof..." And I shall walk beneath your chilly vault. A walking meditation for autumn.
Is it even possible to think about politics in a dispassionate way? Can we employ mindfulness in our approach toward this topic? I believe that it is, and I'm certain that we can. Join me in this practice to see how.
How much we think of eating when the hour to dine is still not near, yet how little we appreciate the food with which, when the proper time arrives, the plate before us is set. Let's agree to include mindfulness in our table manners.
A moderately vigorous stretch with which to begin your day. Increase your blood flow, heighten your arousal, loosen your bones. No prior flexibility nor fitness required.
Is there not someone in your life with whom you find it difficult to get along? Is there not one person (perhaps there are many!) with whom, no matter what you do, you simply can't see "eye to eye"? This episode will help you to deal with these difficult people.
How much of our lives do we waste thinking about the opinions of others? We're profligate spenders of that most precious commodity--time--of which we'll not be given more.
A simple, gentle stretch with which to begin your day. Appropriate for all levels of flexibility and fitness.