My Review of 2016

MY REVIEW OF 2016

Dedicated to Mariam Aisha Abdallah

7 September 1971 -  27 April 2016

This year has been a year has been a great year. It’s been a year that has changed my life for the better. This year has been a year of spiritual awakening and I have had many great realisations about life that has made me a happier person. On the 2^nd of January, I was feeling lonely after feeling distressed during Christmas 2015 so I decided to type up “Loneliness” on the YouTube search engine. Suddenly, I found a video with a thumbnail graphic saying “How to deal with loneliness”. Little would I know that it was a video that would change my life! (or at least my perception of it.) It was a video by a spiritual teacher and author named Noah Elkrief. His videos showed how suffering in our lives is created our thoughts about our circumstances and not the circumstances themselves. Once I realised that it was my thoughts of loneliness was making me lonely and not being alone in itself causing the loneliness then my feelings of loneliness went away and I felt a lot better. I watched all of Noah’s YouTube videos and eventually bought his book. “A guide to the present moment”.

Later on, I started to have some wonderful realisations about life which left me in a blissful mental state. First, I realised that anger is caused by desire and therefore it is the desperate wanting of things that create anger and other forms of suffering. Another realisation that I had that made me feel better about life was that other people’s opinions of you are not a real reflection of who you are as a person but rather a reflection of them as a person. In other words, opinions are just opinions will not necessarily be a truthful statement of you.

Throughout the year, I bought a lot of books about Zen practice. Many of them were authored by the famous Zen monk Thich Nhat Hanh. However, one of them was a beginner’s book. There was a section in this book that mentioned all the destructive thought processes that leads to the killing of animals, humans, plants and planet earth in general. Then I remembered back in January when attending my local Buddhist centre while attending a meditation class that they were running a campaign called “veganuary” which attempted to promote a vegan or vegetarian lifestyle. At the time, there was a poster in the small lobby area saying that the production of meat causes about 50% of the world’s air pollution. More than what comes from car fumes. All this provoked me into trying for a vegetarian diet in order to show loving kindness to animals. At first I was uncertain about maintaining a vegetarian diet but I am now glad to say that I have comfortably sustained the vegetarian lifestyle. I have also leaned towards non-dairy milks, especially oat and almond milk.

My spiritual path has also helped me with my on-going chess pursuits. I no longer feel the pressure of winning as much as I used to. I now try not to think about winning but rather to just focus on playing the best chess that I can. Last year, I left South Norwood Chess Club after my struggles to cope with the behaviour of a certain individual who was often very critical and often spoke without sensitivity. My improved understanding and wisdom of other people provoke me to return to South Norwood Chess Club knowing that I am able to deal with my other people’s behaviour better than I was previously. Although it was an honour to represent the inter-club teams for CCF for a season, it was great to go back to a place I like to call my second home.

My year on the chessboard overall was a rather average one, although there were some positive highlights to look back on. I scored a ground-breaking victory with the black pieces with the Black pieces against a 178 ECF player after a long struggle to get to the venue when trying to make my own way there. It was my best over-the-board Standard-Play result ever. I also made it to the final of the ECF All-England Under 140 Championship with my Surrey county team which was held in Warwickshire. However, for most of the year, I had been fighting flu, asthma and hay fever symptoms that have made life difficult for me. I struggled with hay-fever and asthma over the summer and once again found myself in hospital with a chest infection in July. It was my 5^th admission to hospital in 4 years.

I look forward to the continuation of my spiritual path in 2017. The events of the last 12 months have certainly given my life more meaning and purpose. The things that I have learnt in 2016 have ultimately made me a healthier, calmer and above all things a happier person.

I wish you all a pleasant and peaceful 2017.

Best wishes. Namaste.

Richard Davis

THE END

Completed on Monday 18^th January 2017.