My road to Chess Glory: Part 3: The road to recovery.

Going into the 2011/12 season, I decided to make major changes to the way I played chess. Before the start of this particular season, I had a style that I eventually called "Tempo Hunting". This style of play was aggressive, but was also tactics dependent and required sharp calculation for it to be successful. I realised that my ailing body was not able to compete in the tactics department. Therefore, I adopted a more positional style. I changed my repertoire and relied more on judgement rather than calculation. After a while, I saw my results improving. However in the summer of 2012 when I was preparing to make my debut in the CCF Cup, I found myself suffering an asthma attack and had to go to hospital about a week before the start of the tournament which ment I was forced to take a bye in the opening round. This left me feeling fatigued for the rest of the summer as I could only manage an equal score of 3 wins and 3 losses. I did however did better in the Wernick Cup that year as I won my section and therefore qualified for the final on my first appearance in the competition since winning it in 2009. It was a 4-way final where I finished runner-up after 2 wins and 1 loss, losing only to the overall winner.

Different (A poem)

DIFFERENT

If they are red then I am blue.

If they are false then I am true.

If they are right then I am wrong.

If they are short then I am long.

If they are hot the I am cold.

If they are fresh the I am mould.

If they are square then I am round.

If they are a penny then I am a pound.

So here I am, something new.

So here I am, out of the blue.

So here I am, fitting in

So here I am, blending in

So here I am, it's all change.

So here I am, let's re-arrange.

So here I am, It's only me!

So here I am, can we just be?

I am different, something new.

I am different, a point of view.

I am different, rain or shine.

I am different, a pure devine.

I am different, so they say.

I am different come what may.

I am different, so it's true.

I am different, ... but then so are you!

My life direction(as of April 2018)

My life direction( as of April 2018)

Me with the Wernick Cup which i won in 2009

My Chess Career

I recently announced on Facebook that I will retire from over-the-board tournament chess at he end of the 2019 CCF cup. This is so that I can have full focus on my spiritual journey where I can grow and develop as a person. This will be the end of a 14 year journey that started in 2005 and I am thankful for everything the game has given me.

My Shogi 1-Dan Persuit

Shogi is the Japanese form of Chess

I have really been into Shogi recently. Shogi is the Japanese form of chess which I first learnt to play in 2008. I joined the Shogi playing site 81 Dojo in March 2012. For the first time in my life, I feel like I am now a stronger Shogi player then I am a chess player and now fell  like I can reach the rank of 1-Dan by the end of the year. At this point, I would like to join the World Shogi League but I don't know how at this point.

My Buddhist Path

In April 2016, I announced on Facebook that I am following and studying Buddhism. There has been many wonderful life lessons that i have learnt from Buddhism and other spiritual studies.I hope to one day become part of my local Buddhist community. I think it will give me a real sense of belonging in the world.

Finding Work

One of the most frustrating aspects of my life is that I have never really known what i really want from a career. i studied I.T. and accounting in college and have had voluntary administration jobs in the past but I have never really known what I want to do professionally. At this point in time, I am thinking about studying psychology, perhaps with one day being a psychologist, a therapist of a counsellor. However, this is just a vague thought at the moment.

Is Autism Just Human Evolution?

Is Autism Just Human Evolution?

My diagnosis story

According to my parents, I was diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome at the age of 10. However, the condition was never explained to me at the time of the diagnosis. In fact I was in a constant state of disbelief of the idea of me having the condition until I arranged a one of appoint ment with a secretary at my local surgery to see my medical records. For me to realise this truth was heartbreaking. I thought I was like every other person on the planet but clearly, medical science had other ideas.

The medical mystery

Throughout my life, I have had Asperger Syndrome (AS) and other Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) be called all sorts of things. I've heard it be called a mental illness, learning disability, medical condition and even a disease!

Medical science always puts a negative connotation to the autism spectrum. Many have said that there has to be a cure for it. However, I am hearing more and more no YouTube that ASDs are rather a step in human evolution. This way of thinking about ASDs is certainly not out of the question when you consider th growing amount of cases around the world. (even without the controversial MMR vacccine) Many scientists have struggled for decades to find the cause of ASDs but alas have yet to find an answer.

What is the truth?

So is autism really just a step in human evolution? If scientists are not able to give a definite external reason for the sharp rise of ASD cases then we are clearly seeing a transformation within the human species. Society is always demanding us to conform and be like everyone else as if we were all ment to be the same person. Society is always fearful of someone who is different in some way. However, it is our differences that makes the human condition as rich as it is.

As you are about to learn from these 3 videos, there are a growing amount of people who beleive that ASDs are not "illness" that have to be "cured" in some waybut rather a step in human evolution. Maybe all of us will be "autistic" in some way.

Teal Swan: Autism (Understanding Autism, Autistic Children and Autistic Adults) - Teal Swan

Arthur Arcturus: Is Asperger's Human 2.0

Tony Atwood: is Asperger Syndrome the next stage of human evolution?

Dear 16 Year Old Me.

Dear 16 Year Old Me.

Dear 16 year old me.

I learnt recently that you are currently revising for your GCSEs and that you will soon be leaving St Mary's high school. and start studying Information Technology at Croydon College in September. I know that there will be challenging times ahead of you so here is some advice for coping with the adult world.

1). Never listen to negative people.

There will always be people out there who will look down at you in some way. They will do anything to bring you down. They will always doubt you . If you have persistant belief in your dreams than you can achieve anything.

2). Never listen to anyone who tries to change you.

You are wonderful just the way you are. There will be people out there that will never appreciate your inner value. Stay the way you are and you will be fine.

3). Remember that you are a person with multiple talents.

You can be whoever you want if you really dedicate your heart and mind to fulfilling your potential.you have the ability to do many things in life.

4). Cherish yourself.

Remember that you are a person worthy of love. No matter how negative other people are of you no matter how lonely of isolated you feel, remember that you are ALWAYS worthy of love.

5). Cherish all the positive people in your life.

A person who makes you fell good about yourself and gives you good advice is a precious gift that you should never take for granted. you always deserve to have good, loving , caring and encouraging people around you. However, such people are rare and you should invest as much time with these people as possible.

Wishing you all the best in your life.

Yours Truly

Richard Davis Aged 16.....x2 = 32. (Still a maths wizz! Kind of!)

Loving Language: Part 3: Healing Words.

LOVING LANGUAGE 

PART 3: HEALING WORDS

Medicine from the mouth

Language has the power to both heal and hurt. in the last blog, I talked about how language can hurt, now I will talk about themselves and even heal mental and emotional wounds. Loving language is literally like medicine. Once taken, can ease the pain that may have been present in a person and can make someone feel better instantly. Unlike medicines for the physical body when we have to pay for them or get a prescription from our G.P. the medicine of loving language and healing words is absolutely free!  It costs nothing to send it and it costs nothing to receive it.

The poisoned tongue

A lot of us fall into the trap of speaking dismissively towards ourselves and others. In this way we are slowly poisoning ourselves and other people in a spiritual sense. A lot of the language used in modern day society is toxic. We have come accustomed to name calling, swearing, insults, put-downs and other forms of harsh language. In fact, I recently learnt from a book that 75%  of out verbal programming to ourselves and others is negative in some way.

Small sentence, big difference

Loving Language can can come in may forms like compliments, praise, encouragement and consolation. They are usually small words and sentences that can uplift a spirit of a person. The impact of a healing word or sentence to a person is often underestimated. A healing word can literally transform someone in a beautiful way.

The other night, before a meditation, I decided to read one of my spiritual books which was an ancient text. There is on verse which I remembered which had a profound definition of the value of language. It read: "Better than a thousand meaningless words collected together is a single meaningful word on hearing which one becomes tranquil".

I find this quote to be very profound. It basically means that no matter how long the message is, if it has no meaning to it then it wont have any effect on a person. However, Loving language often comes in very small phrases like "I love you" "You are beautiful", "Thank you" "How are you?" "You can do it!" "You are great". Notice how these phrases are only a few words long and yet their uplifting power is immense.

Perhaps for the sake of this blog, we could change the above verse slightly to "Better than a thousand phrases of hurt collected together is a small healing phrase on hearing which one becomes loved".

"You are beautiful"

There has been some social experiments on YouTube where woman were told that they were beautiful. I think it is safe to say that they were uplifted by just one word. "Beautiful".

Kind words are so simple and so priceless and get a lot of us struggle to give and receive a kind or phrase to oneself or others.

We should all make it our goal in life to speak as kindly and as positively to ourselves and others as possible so that we can heal hearts and minds one word at a time.

Loving Language Part 2: Harsh Words

LOVING LANGUAGE PART 2 : HARSH WORDS

In part 1 I came to the conclusion that love is about positive emotion. When we feel positive about something, it is easy to give love. However, inevitably in life we will have thoughts and feelings about ourselves, and others that are by nature, negative. All of us are given negative feedback from other people from time to time, and that's OK if the criticism is constructive. However, most of the time, criticism is constructive. However, most of the time, criticism is harsh, destructive and hurtful. There are many relationships out there that use hurtful language to each other. I for one have been involved in many relationships where both of us have used hurtful language and even done hurtful actions towards each other. It's amazing how 2 people who were once seemed inseparable can suddenly break each other apart just because on person or both was unable to use language wisely.

When we are speaking to another person, we have to remember that we can provoke an emotion in that person which can be detrimental to the relationship later on. Language is a powerful tool. If it's used in the right way, you will gain countless benefits, If you use it wrongly the there will be endless problems.

We can literally change the world through the nature of our language. Harsh words create friction, conflict and even war. However, with loving compassionate language to ourselves and others and care about how we speak to other people, we can make our world a better place and even heal the world of it's problems.

I will write about the positive effect of loving language in the next blog of this series.