Why do people engage in self destructive behaviors?

http://befearless.casefoundation.org/#make-big-bets

Hey Gerald, ever tried hypnosis?

I actually got hypnotised a couple of days ago to quit a 10 year smoking habit. I've tried everything previously and nothing worked. So far the hypnosis has been successful. Anyway the hypnotists point was that every other method for quitting smoking was a conscious one and so often the subconscious will override the conscious and win every time.

She explained to me that the subconscious protects us physically and emotionally (or thinks it does) and so all of our most instinctual reactions and habits stems from what the subconscious knows to be true, even if our conscious mind may disagree. So I guess my subconscious believed that it was protecting me from emotional pain by smoking, so anytime I would feel stressed or bored my supercomputer would command me to have a cigarette. Anywayyy..

One of the things the hypnotist did in the hypnosis was relate the colour RED to the new attitudes my subconscious was programmed to have. This means that throughout my day whenever I see the colour RED I am instantly reminded of "the plan". It kind of re calibrates my mind subconsciously by reminding me actually smoking is NOT what I want to, when I start feeling the urge to smoke I consciously start looking for the colour red, when I see it in something, I feel better instantly and the craving goes away,...

Pretty Cool HUh>/?

Anyway where am I going with this... "WE ARE OUR OWN BOSS"... It's just that sometimes we have developed habits and trained ourselves to be the wrong kind of boss.

So I think that colour relation could work well in trading or a diet plan or anything that requires discipline.. As soon as your conscious mind (will power) is distracted by any 1 of the million little things that can pop into our heads on a daily basis, our subconscious immediately takes the reins and controls us to do everything it's been trained to do through our habits.

If you could define the exact type of mindset you want when you're trading or working out or eating, you could practice meditation and attach perhaps the colour red or some type of symbol that is constantly in your eyeshot whilst trading, to make that connection (reminder) between your DESIRED mindset in your subconscious and your conscious.

Anyway...

Have you ever wondered WHY you don't actually do what it is you want? A study was conducted with people who were supposed to exercise for 3 weeks straight. The study found that sometimes people would get to the front door and decide not to go running that day. They would actually get pleasure from NOT doing what they wanted to do and this triggered the pleasure parts in their brain.

They found though that by resisting that urge to stay inside and even when they did not want to go running actually do it.. After 2 weeks or so the rewards stimulated by the brain reversed and they actually felt worse by not going for a run. And the pleasure was now stimulated by going for the run. In other words the subconscious had retrained itself to associate exercise with pleasure where previously it was trained to associate laziness with pleasure.

Anyway I wrote this post for another thread but I think some parts are relevant here.

The main point is that correcting deeply rooted habits is very difficult to do through share WILL POWER, because this leaves it all up to the conscious mind which is distracted so very easily. As soon as it is, our subconscious will quickly take control and do what it's learned it needs to do to protect us from physical or emotional pain. This of course may not always be in our best interests.

Thought this might be relevant.

I noticed someone posted videos re mindfulness. Mindfulness is useful. Worth reading Gurdjieff in this regard. Or one of his followers like Robert S De Ropp. It's just watching yourself and your behaviour, really. Just to be self aware. Like observing someone whom you admire.

The markets can be conquered but it takes determination, insight (huge doses) and patience (even larger doses). For many, confusion and fear grips them whilst they try and cross that rubicon and thus they resort, quite understandably, to a variety of crutches. We are human after all. Some never quite make that crossing and either fall by the wayside or continue aimlessly wandering. The human predicament is a difficult journey the higher one aims.

I admit I haven't read this thread from the beginning, but the title attracted me to subscribe. I found myself in self-destruct mode every time I reached new equity highs. It's almost like I can "sell short" my own equity curve when it reached a peak high. I would stick to plan and risk only 0.3% per trade, halting my day between 2%-4% worst case loss. I would achieve growth between 15% to high 25% on a good run. Then it happens. Right at the top of my equity curve new high, I would lose -4% ..... -8% ..... -12% ..... -15% in downward spiral when I know I should have stopped trading when it was -4% for the day (my max loss limit per day).

You often hear advice on FF like "..... stay cool headed, don't worry about the drawdown and just focus on trading well, ..... focus on doing the right things on trade-by-trade basis, ..... ignore your P&L, ..... how well you execute the next trade is all that matters". But for me I had to watch my P&L to keep within loss limit per day.

Looking back, I'm quite impressed that I could stay disciplined and halt myself on several -2% days. Something I did, or ate, kept me in check. Now I want to go back to find what makes me stick to plan, and why I fell into self-destruction in such regularity.

1. Does reading Mark Douglas' book help?
2. Does reading Dr Alexander Elder's book help?
3. Does reading Jack Larkin's thread help? He deleted the thread but materials are still at his website.

Lastly, is there an indicator display I can place on MT4 charts showing how many lots I've already traded today, how many trades taken, or how much I've already lost in equity, so that I can check myself quickly? I usually go to Myfxbook or TradeExplorer but it would be convenient to have it on MT4 as well. Also need an indicator that shows the open pips on open trades like the picture below (circled), without all the other extra info.