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About Sebastien Grynko
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Blog postWhat is wisdom? Wisdom is the opposite of ignorance and delusion. The Buddha said that there is no such thing as evil. There is only wisdom and the lack of it.
All beings want to be happy and they are driven by what they think would make them happy. Unfortunately a lot of human beings have a blurry vision and can’t see the light of wisdom
Conditioning, upbringing, social pressure can blur this vision even more. One needs to wipe their eyes and cultivate the mind in -
Blog postWhat exactly do we renounce in order to reach enlightenment ?
In the times of the Buddha, people and all up to this day, laymen and laywomen would renounce the worldly mundane life to pursue the path of monk hood.
Does it mean you need to shave your head, wear a brown robe and become a monk ? Yes and no.. During the bygone age of the Buddha, men and women of every walks of life would get enlightened.
Does it help to be a monk ? Hell yeah. The conditio -
Blog postOne of the pillars of a good life. I want to start by saying that if you don’t have a basic ground in moral virtue, it will be harder to meditate. There are stories in the Buddhist scriptures that describe monks with psychic powers. Believe it or not as soon as those monks had unwholesome thoughts, those powers would wane. Of course we are not talking about psychic powers right now but I wanted to stretch the importance of morality. This is also not a warning or a threat, sa
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Blog postThey say the devil is the details. Well I say that love is in the details. First you need to give it to yourself and by that I mean, that you need to be generous with yourself as well.
Give yourself the love, the patience, the smiles, the words, the attention and the time to feel the peace and joy that comes with soothing yourself. Once you have learned how to start loving yourself unconditionally, GIVING to others will come naturally and more and more your heart will fill -
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May all beings be well and happy, free from suffering.
That’s how we would end a ceremony, when my grandmother used to bring me to our Buddhist temple in Singapore.
We would chant, we would do the offerings and we would end by saying this mantra and meditate upon it for a few moments.
The concept of Loving & kindness has always been something that I hold dear. It is such a beautiful “quality” to have in life. There is a reason why the Buddha called -
Blog postI was supposed to write this post right after the first day of this New year, but I failed to do so. You know what they say : We make plans and God laughs at them.
I think we should laugh at ourselves more often and not take things so seriously. How many times have I beaten on myself for not living up to the expectations I had set.
I am not handsome enough. I am not good enough. I am not worthy enough and the list just goes on and on and on. Truthfully this list is -
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I remember an acquaintance of mine who told me, that as soon as she would close her eyes, she would feel the sadness inside and start crying. Sometimes we just have too much buildup. Meditation can help anybody but some of us have so much suffering that has been repressed over time, that we need something, a stronger catharsis, and meditation is not necessarily the best practice to deal with our situation at the moment. Sometimes it is also about your karma and perhap -
Blog postIn the West, we always want to fill up everything with something. Fill up our schedules, fill up our minds, fill up our social circles, fill up the rooms in our houses... There is no space for emptiness. It seems that we fear the emptiness. We fear the simplicity of nothingness. We do not hold space for NOTHING, the real NOTHING. A lot of people say that they are tired of the constant stream of thoughts in their head yet they fear the emptiness as well. What happens when you
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Blog postThere was once a french philosopher named Blaise Pascal, who said that all of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.
Tim Ferriss said that being busy is a form of laziness - lazy thinking and indiscriminate action. We put so much emphasis and importance to the doing part of our lives. The thinking which is the actions of the mind and the doing of the body.
There is obviously a place for actions and doing but when you have done -
Blog postI am going to be completely honest. I have never done anything too extreme. I have smoked some weed and had my fair share of alcohol before I quit, 12 years ago.
However, I have had a lot of experience with meditation. Intoxicants have some positive effects. Nobody can deny it. There is a reason why they are so popular.
The temporary joy and happiness you feel is a great feeling. Unfortunately, it does come with a price and oftentimes drugs serve as an escape more s -
Blog postWhat is life worth without inspiration ? It all starts with a bit of introspection. Yet in our hearts we have failed Please let it be explained
Did you dare hear the whisper ? In those quiet times of solitude Did you care to lend a ear ? Or did you have an attitude ?
How much of the past are you regretting? How much of the future are you dreading? Don’t you know how to be present ? Or do you just know how to resent ?
Close your eyes and listen. Go, yo -
Blog postToo often you have doubted me. However hard I’ve tried to be. Nothing ever seems to be good enough for you Somehow you’d always find a way not to give me my proper due.
I want to tell you here and now. I was a coward before and I just did not know how But enough is enough
I don’t want you in my life anymore I need to let go of you or, I won’t be able to breathe for a second more.
I thank you for being with me that long it’s time now, you don’t need to -
Blog postBeing alone is fine Sometimes you need to take some time Loneliness is just a feeling Don’t start overthinking
Solitude is an attitude It’s about caring for oneself Gratitude is not rude It’s about loving yourself
Stay on your own Try to be alone Your heart is your home
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Blog postWe spend our lives running Chasing after the next best thing When there’s much ado ‘bout nothing
Life is more about being Yet we waste much of it doing when we should be enjoying
Life is fleeting Let’s start dancing Let’s start singing
The end is near Play it by ear Enjoy the here
Don’t play safe But please behave
Heart is your safe haven Make NOW your heaven
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Blog postForgive me for I have sin I failed to be grateful I forgot to look within For I realized my life is full
I chose to see the wrong And forsake the right I chose to long And I lost sight
Beauty is everywhere There, here and elsewhere So I want my heart to hear
The sounds of passion The melodies of compassion, And the beat of my inspiration.
Gratitude or an attitude ? The former or the latter ? An attitude of gratitude You can thank me lat -
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Breathe in Breathe out Look within And not without
Initiate Meditate And Contemplate
Don’t scare Just be aware And please care
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Blog postOftentimes we want to fight We think its better to ignite To yield is not an option To feel is not an action
The will to power is savvy But be wary Controlling can’t get you so far So don’t be too hard
Surrender is fine Go get some wine, and take some time to dine It will only cost you a dime
And please, please Be at ease with the peace And be at peace with the ease
Try to go with the flow And then you will know How to really let go &nb -
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Let go of restlessness Choose gentleness Let go of recklessness Choose kindness
When it comes to the mind You have to be kind Don’t worry, you won’t be left behind Close your eyes, you won’t be blind
Rising and falling Follow the belly Thinking and thinking Take it slowly
One moment at a time One breath at a time Give yourself the time
The mind gets empty Your heart feels ditsy I told you it w -
Blog postI understand the urge of wanting to take one’s phone and feel the dopamine as you browse through the new notifications, feeds and messages. The urge is there but oftentimes lead to frustration and it ends up draining your precious energy. Plenty of studies have shown that social media, emails, back and forth messaging are “damaging” to our psyches. I am not saying that you should eliminate everything altogether (although it’s not such a bad idea) but stay away f
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Blog postIm not saying that you should be jumping up and down your bed while playing some Tiesto, but meditation is not work. Meditation is not something you have to take so seriously that it becomes a chore. Hell no, meditation is supposed to be something you look forward to. Yes at the beginning it might not feel that way, but overtime it will. I guarantee it. You won’t want to stop meditating, thanks to the joy and peace you get from it. I don’t want you to expect the joy and happiness, because
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Blog postI brought one of my friends to my meditation centre, late one evening, just to show her the beauty of that place. I also introduced her to a monk, who has been my friend for over ten years.
This monk is rather eccentric and loves to talk and teach people meditation. His english is pretty broken but still understandable. He told her something that was a very good way of explaining meditation. He told her to just close her eyes and just catch and let go. &nbs -
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Isn’t it a plague of our modern world ? The lack of love for oneself. You might think it does not apply to you and perhaps it does not. I challenge you however, to observe your thoughts more carefully during the course of a few weeks. How many times do you feel guilty? How many times do you feel frustrated and angry at yourself for whatever reason? How many times do you beat up on yourself because you are not doing the things you THINK you are supposed to do? I guess -
Blog postThe second divine abiding (brahmavihara) is compassion (karuna). The sublime quality and skill of feeling love and understanding for those who suffer, without any discrimination.
You don’t need to suffer with them. If you can help then help, but first and foremost compassion is the feeling of warmth and care for those who suffer. As a mother feels compassion for her sick son so should you for all beings who suffer. I have come to realise in my lifetime that all human beings -
Blog postThe first divine abiding (brahmavihara) is Loving & kindness (Metta). It’s the sublime quality and skill of benevolent love towards all living things. As rain does not discriminate when it falls so should you NOT, when practicing loving & kindness. Try it and sustain it as much as you possibly can in your day to day. For some of you, radiating love towards all beings may seem preposterous. You might get angry at the thought of spreading love towards some specific people. <
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Blog postTake the time to appreciate the people in your life. Take a few moments in your heart and mind to send them love and acknowledge them in your mind, but more importantly take a few more moments and write them a letter, a message, a text, send them a carrier pigeon, the form does not matter. What matters is that through your actions, your words or both, the people you love know how much they mean to you.
You might think you have all the time in the world but it is not necessarily tr -
Blog postKarma is not necessarily a bitch. Although it can really be sometimes. Don’t dwell too much on your karma. Yes it is true that what goes around, comes around but you don’t need to worry about it or fear it. What you can do instead, is choose to make your karma more wholesome. Karma is just a translation for action. Keep it simple make good karma of deed, speech and thought. If you do that and keep on doing that, you will never need to worry or dwell on your karma. Karma is only
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Blog postCatch the negativity when it is still small.
Don’t let anger, sadness, frustration, doubt grow when you can stop it.
Negative emotions start with a sneeze and can grow to a debilitating virus. Or they can start with a few sparkles in a dry forest and then the wildfire can spread and destroy everything in its way.
When you get the negativity when it is just a thought you can prevent more negative thoughts from happening therefore stopping negative feeling -
Blog postRalph Waldo Emerson said that to be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something or someone else, is an accomplishment in and of itself.
Authenticity does not come easy. To conform is much easier and less risky. When you are just another brick in the wall, it is easy not to offend or be polarising.
When you are yourself however, truly yourself, you stand out, and it is not necessarily a good or a bad thing. Some people like to stand out jus -
Blog postDo you ever guilty because you are not doing anything or maybe you think you are not doing enough ?
I know I felt this way, at times. If we are not pushing, if we are not moving forward, if we are not busy.. Are we automatically made to be lazy ? Good-for-nothing ? Unworthy of love ?
It might feel like this sometime. Being busy is not a badge of honour, especially when you are filling your time with things that are not even worth your time.
Are you to -
Blog postWayne Dyer used to say : “Don’t die with your music still in you. And
Ralph Waldo Emerson used to say :
“Most men live lives of quiet desperation”
Are you ? Are you living a life which seem meaningless ? This is not a call to action. This is not message to get you hot and pumping.
This is a reminder that life is not supposed to be dry and dull. Contrary to popular belief, having a life worth living does not necessarily mean to take actions, so bold and
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