Prosperous mindset: relax & rise over emotions, own the game

Hello traders,

the purpouse of this thread is to share how to trade the market and not let the market trade you.

Target:
Say good bye to emotional trading,
say good bye to repeating same mistakes over and over and feeling rather powerless about that,
say good bye to let your emotions run you.
Claim your power back, become the boss, relax into that, own the game and enjoy it.
Handle your emotions with ease and grace and relax so you can tune into the flow of the moment, feeling where the market is and what's going on.

This can be your reality, it's all up to you and your commitment to face what's there to face. The only reason why we don't experience the results we want is our unwillingness to face what's there to be faced. And the more we accept that the easier it becomes to turn the awarness onto what needs to be faced.

For a long time I thought it's about trading, markets, price, charts, system, statistic etc.but all these are nothing but add ons. Who is in charge here? Who is responsible for all the decision made during trading day? Trader is. So master yourself..and the rest becomes non issue, the right, profitable decisions will become natural, because it's who we all are in our core. It's just that due to the past, the way we learned to operate during the life, we didn't allowed our natural abilities to work for our highest and best as much as they could be. How much or how little that's individual, but looking at your results and comparing that to where you want to be will tell you how much "things" gotta shift.

I'll add more as time permits. Couple practical tips for now.

1) Self-awareness, Self-awareness, Self-awareness:
- learn to observe yourself, the state you are in, what's going on within your body. Whether you believe it or not right now doesn't matter, you have that ability anyway and it's just a matter of practice and turning the lens of your awareness within. Your body will tell you bunch of stuff that will greatly help you navigate forward. It's the best set of indicators I know of. Seriously.

- What state you/your body is in? Is your breathing calm and deep? Is you breathing shallow and quick? Are you relaxed? Are you somewhat contracted? Do you feel some tension/contraction/pressure somewhere? Do you feel something flowing inside? That's the way your body communicates with you telling you what you might be interested to be aware of. And again, even if you don't think you feel anything..you do. So just keep observing & practicing. I was the same "I don't feel anything" guy. Boy, was I wrong!

- If you fail to be aware of where you are right now, how can you move towards where you wanna be? You can't.

2) Breath calmly, deeply:
- whenever you realize that emotions comes up or already owns you, PAUSE and focus on breathing, the market can wait. After all emotional based decisions pretty much suck and I guess you might already know that too.
- Breath in, focus on the breath going through your body, wait 2-3 seconds, breath out. Relax your body. Rinse and repeat.
- If the emotions are too high - either too much fear or too much enthusiasm, quick deep breathing might be better, as if you would just finish 100m sprint or do some heavy lifting.

- Simply breath anything that clouds your thinking away. And breath away/relax any density/contraction in your body that you become aware of by simply breathing into it. The less contraction/density there's in your body, the more the energy can flow, the calmer you are and the better decisions you make as the brain has enough oxygen. That way you relax the fight & flight response that might get triggered during you trading day. There's no point in being on high alert if you don't have a lion behind your back. There are reason why the fight & flight protective mechanism gets activated even when we consciously don't see any danger. I'll address that later. It requires "update" of what's considered dangerous by our system.

For now you calm it down by deep breathing telling it literally "It's ok, no danger in sight, whatever it was that triggered it..it's ok now, just relax". This Fight & flight prepares for battle, maximum speed and efficency of reactions and it cuts the flow in the body and also into the brain making you react instinctively. Which is pretty much light speed. Made you have this experience when you reacted kind of automaticaly eventhough you got surprised by something. And then you wonder how on earth did you actually do that? Great reaction, great response, not even prepared..maybe it could be better..but it was perfect and proper enough..and you just don't understand how did you actually do it. That's was the instict in action.

Thinking takes too much time. Yet throughout the evolution, as the real danger became less and less part of our reality we forgot to listen to our instincts and in order to make them work for as again, we gotta get in touch with them again and integrate them. And self-awareness, exploring yourself is the way to do it.

You can't screw it, there's no right or wrong way. Whatever works for you. Be creative, play with it, feel free to experiment. After all it's about finding what works for you/the way it works for you and that's about self-awareness.


3) know your WHY's:
- WHY you want WHAT you want
- WHY you do WHAT you do
- helps you with clarity and getting all of you on board with what you want. Sounds weird? If you would be totally on board with what you want, you'd live it already. As that is obviously not the case, there are reasons why you limit yourself/your life. By digging for the WHY you bring the stuff that stays in the way to your awareness and that's where it ends for it's the begining of it's end. The end of it having power over you. For only what's hidden has power over us. Become aware of it and it's days are numbered.

Feedback is welcomed and appreciated together with questions.
I ask for respect and gentlemans attitude. We might disagree, that's ok but there's a line there. I'm not interested in "I'm right you are wrong" plays. That's just not worth my time & energy. Am I wrong from your point of view? Ok, I am totally ok with that. After your it's your perception and so be it.

What I write about I breath and live myself. I am walking my talk. My trading results, more like the pain of them made me become aware of all that and tought me to develop these skills and operate the way I operate now. I was basicaly forced by "life" to face the painful truth..And I am grateful I stopped running away from it and had the balls to face it.
"Shoulda" do it a lot sooner but I wasn't aware of what's going on, what really matters and what to do with all that. That's why I share it here so you don't have to repeat the mistakes I did. It's costly, it's painful and you just don't have to. Life can be challenging itself enough.

It's just amazing how trading and all my life became so much more relaxed, stress free and profitable. The journey is ongoing but I no longer take trading and life personaly. No longer proving anything to anyone, not even to myself. No matter what happens..I turned into "Ok, don't really like the outcome/ the way I reacted/responded etc..hmm, OK, no big deal. Now what?" ..no longer beating myself or blaming myself. No longer blaming others or circumstances.."bad luck" etc..simply, ok, stuff happens but life goes on and obviously there is something to learn that I didn't know! So keep playing the best way you can!

And that's really nice state to be in. And yeah, life gets challenging, it still does. I do stupid trading decisions..but less and less..and they are less costly. Simply my entire relationship with myself and all that I face through out the day shifted.. And that's amazing and priceless.

My intention is that you guys experience the same state of ease, grace and relaxation as you trade and go throughout your day.

original post: http://www.forexfactory.com/showthre...81#post8133881

I am not saying no any of them but my point is that it's useful to know how to actualy handle emotions, claim back the peace of mind in real time on your own. And any other tool won't help you do that or will work only to some extent, which is actually determined by WHO you are and HOW MUCH are you willing to be influenced it. The way we operate now is we don't really like change, that's considered dangerous.. And that's why, you need to learn to do it yourself, to activelly learn how to breath and how to relax the body when you are in it, when you are "under the fire".

It's like when you are building a house, you wanna build it on solid ground. So make sure your ground is solid and then you can put bricks etc on. Meditation exists for aeons, people do meditate for yeats..but more often then not they are just able experience the peace when they set a space for it, away from any distraction. Hello! Then any distraction in real life will distract them until they learn how to actually let it not distract them. That's the challenge, being able to do it anywhere and anytime no matter what's going on.

And once you master yourself enough..and you realize that listening to xyz helps you even more..great, do it, do whatever works for you. But it pays of to be aware that you are the boss behind all of it. Any any other thing is nothing but just a component to WHO you are. It requires ones efforts, investing energy in yourself, finding out what makes you tick. And as you activelly engage in exploring YOU there's where the magic happens. For the only reason why there's not enough peace in you system is that there's some unresolved past, past content which wasn't fully experienced back then for whatever reason. And it want's to be experienced, that's why it's comming up. It want's to be freed and liberated so you yourself can be free and liberated from what was..and free to be YOU and play with what is and what's happening, what's unfolding and what will be.

Nice start.
Similar words I just have listened in my audio records :
"Whenever you find time, just for a few minutes relax the breathing system, nothing else there is no need to relax the whole body. Sitting in a train, bus or plane, or as a passenger in a car or sitting in the park during your lunch break, or in the bathroom, nobody will become aware that you are doing something. Just relax the breathing system. Let it be as when it is functioning naturally. Then close your eyes and watch the breathing going in, coming out,
going inSo, does this mean you should forget everything else completely and just concentrate? No, it doesnt, dont concentrate. If you concentrate you create trouble, because then everything else becomes a disturbance. If you try to concentrate sitting in the train or in the bus, then the noise of the train or bus becomes a disturbance, the person sitting beside you becomes a disturbance. Meditation is not concentration. It is simple awareness. You simply relax and watch the breathing. In that watching, nothing is excluded. The vehicle is humming perfectly okay, accept it. The traffic is passing thats okay, part of life. A fellow passenger is snoring by your side, accept it. A dog barking, some music playing somewhere close bynothing is rejected. You can do it at any time, there is no need to make a fixed time. Use whatever time is available. In the morning, in the afternoon, just four or five times, for small intervals just five minutes meditate, and you will see that it becomes a constant nourishment. There is no need to do it for twenty-four hours. Just a cup of meditation will do. No need to drink the whole river. Just a cup of tea will do. And make it as easy as possible. Easy is right. Make it as natural as possible. And dont be after it just do it whenever you find time."

Agree completely, this is the most difficult and interesting part. I like exploring my body sensations in stressful situations, though I have not yet learned how to control them completely.

Yep, acceptance is the key. Instead of resisting & reacting shift to accepting & allowing. Yep, you don't need much time. You can even do it in elevator, anywhere..even just 10s, 30s pause and focus on breathing..that's all you need. Just get use to it, make it a habit.

The target is not to control anything, just be with whatever sensation your body shows you..you just observe it and allow it to be..that's all. Control sounds to me more like forcing/fighting/resisting etc. That's not acceptance nor allowing, that's not ease & grace either. And allowance as ease as it sounds..is pretty challenging until you actually get use to it. And even then. It's like higher levels in a game. Once you think you are on top of it..level up! And you might feel like you didn't learn anything..at least for some time till you remember you actually rose to higher level thus there's more to learn/master. )

I used to compartmentalize my life and therefore my trading until I became aware that my inner awareness is the whole of my life. My inner balance is in everything. When I began paying attention to how I feel in the moment I regained my power over my life. Trading or whatever work one chooses, the prosperity of it is an inner journey. Yes, meditation is awareness of who I am and where I am in the moment. And breath awareness is the centering point.

I have a morning awareness prep that begins my day and I repeat it throughout the day particularly if I find myself feeling rushed or anxious about something. This has made a difference in my trading as well. I'm (more) present when I trade. If the trade doesn't go the way I expected, I breathe, accept it, and happily move on to another opportunity that will reveal itself.

Thx for the 'mindful' thread!

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As TheEmpress already pointed out it's great to set oneself for a day in the morning.

That way you know where you are, what you want to experience through out your day while bringing up that what would stay in your way. The heavy "stuff" as I call it, or "sh*t" or "crap". It all describes the same energetic quality.

The way I do it is:
Stillness time in the morning to prepare myself for the day, then Stillness time to maintain myself throughout the day and Stillness time in the evening to allow my body to go through what was, what is and take care of it, organizing it, processing it etc.

My morning Stillness goes for couple minutes, I do it in the bed first as I can relax my entire body there. If I feel more is needed I stay present longer, even 30minutes or more. I then usually include my targets, what I want, what my day is gonna be like and what might happen during the day. That usually brings ups a lot of stuff and I address it right there and then. And lighten up myself as a result.

My evening Stillness goes for couple minutes as well, I do it usually in the bed as well so I can relax my body and fall asleep when needed. It serves me to experience all there's to feel, what the day brought up. I also allow myself to bring up anything from the day that's worth reminding, highlighting, what worked, what didn't, what to improve etc. I no longer do it as consciously as before but I know it's being done on my behalf more and more. And I feel gratitude for that. "Having things done" for you, that's a relief..no longer the feeling that you actually gotta fight with you mind, with you habits etc. What a relief once you realize that even the automatic system/habit is there to help you, not to get you. It's just about updating & upgrading what it actually should take care of and where it should not interfere.

This Stillness time, being in the moment, present to what is, is where all our power is and so I cultivate the practice of tuning in as much as I can during the day. I was pretty much used to either be in the past or be wishy washy dreaming about the future and I didn't really care about what was going on in present moment. And so I practice all the time during the day even if for just 10sec, 30 sec, 1-2 minutes.. It became a second nature but it still can take a while before I'll actually pause at times.

How? I STOP, I PAUSE whatever I am doing at the moment..I take a breath & feel where I am at & feel into my heart.

The more I do that, the more I realize how much I am actually wired to not feel what's there to be felt, literaly longing for my attention. It's just nuts..It still suprises me! But life long habit is life long habit, there was a lot of momentum in that.. And I do know the stuff won't go away untill I'll face it & feel it..

Even while writing this piece..there's build up of energy, of stuff, heaviness, tension..all the unresolved energy, past stuff and that what wants to be felt..I noticed my breath became shallow..and I became aware of that, even where it's located in my body..yet I kept writing for quite a while before realizing what it is waiting..

Hello! Talk about walking my talk..and actually really walking it! ) And so this presence time, the moment of stillness is what allows the stuff to be addressed & processed. And as this lightens up, even just a bit, it's ripple effect will sweep through entire body and the energy and consciousness will shift towards better, higher, calmer, more relaxed & prosperous and even healthy. As our natural state is one of flow, ease and grace. Then all the energy just flows as best as it can and body is vibrant, mind is clear, your heart is open, you are smilling for "no reason", you shine like a sunshine and your life has no chance but to mirror this greatness & ease back to you.

Having wrote that, if there's anything that would cover this lightness & ease, any negativity, pesimism, fear, doubts, judgement whatever I allow myself to be aware of it, I invite it, I welcome it to face it, feel it. Brutal honesty is the key. We might have no clue what stuff we hold onto and what slows us down.
If I feel it "won't happen", "I can't", "I'll screw it", "I am screwed", "that's not possible" or whatever..I welcome it and I willingly face it with an open heart. No longer running away from anything, hidding or avoiding anything. Nope, that one didn't work well.
Ignorance ain't bliss.

And so by allowance of anything and everything, welcoming it all up to you awareness no matter whether it's considered ok, good, right or not..that way you realize what was there having an effect on your life & decisions you made and are making.

A note about positive / negative thinking. From my current point of view there's no such thing, it all just IS. After all, who knows what's good, who knows what's bad?

People tend to avoid the "bad" stuff, that what they "don't want"..and I did exactly that. Problem with this is that only hidden has power over us and it's the unconsciouss stuff we hold onto that has whole bunch of emotions. And would they be all nice, joyfull, grateful our days would be a lot different!

So it's safe to consider that there might be quite a lot of this "bad/negative" stuff. And this stuff, slows us down and limits our greatness, our ability to rock & roll our and kick ass beyond our imagination.

One way of bringing this up is a mantra: "I am unworthy, I am not lovable, I am not good enough."
I bet you never heard of this one! I myself use "I suck" instead of "not good enough", sounds more "true" for me.

So feel free to play with this, repeating it over and over and over. It will bring up heavy stuff in your body and that's all that wants to be experienced & felt and once you will be able to laugh into it, giggle and smile all over the place..then you know you are good. But..as with everything, you never know how much more there is, so keep comming back to it just to see where you are.

Btw smile & joy is what clears our energy & lightens up our day.

The way I use what I write about:

I monitor my actions, entries, trade management, exits, thoughts etc throughout my trading day. I notice how I feel, what thoughts I have etc, what patterns are in play. I also observe whether I react automaticaly or I am actually guided/inspired to react in a certain way.

I jot down the major ones especially the ones that keeps repeating and those I don't like the results of. The more I do that, the more I feel that what's there to feel and the more I am able to act in a better way next time as I create distance from what was once an unprofitable habit. All those habits were created for a reason at some point and by becoming more and more aware the root cause just melts, regardles what it is. Should it be something important to know/realize, it will come to my awareness when the time/space will be right. No reason to dig for that, it comes when it comes. I learned it will come if I "need" it for further advancement.

I do daily reviews, weekly reviews and monthly reviews of the trades that I took, that I didn't take but "should/wanted" to take and also my most costly patterns regardless whether they appeared throughout the period or not. They might come into play next time and I want to be in space that allows me to stop them soon enough.

I also do keep reminding myself who I am and what I want. In a way, there's nothing to become. It's more about letting go of that what we learned/absorbed from the world around us when we weren't free to be ourselves. After all, who could say that they always could do whatever they wanted, whatever they felt like doing? Don't know what's your experience, but in my case there were always people jumping in and say "you can't do that! that's not appropriate!" or something else.

And what I have learned lately, the reason we are where we are, it's our unresolved emotions from the past. When it wasn't safe or ok to feel them, express them etc. And so we created certain habits and we got use to it..forgeting the higher possibility that exists now. When we are on our own, living our lives the way we want, the way we choose.

As one clever guy put it:
- unresolved anger becomes rage
- unresolved sadness becomes depression
- unresolved fear becomes "impossible" to face
- unresolved pain becomes unbearable

And that's not something that help you stay relaxed through your day! But no matter how "impossible" it seems to shift whatever one wants to shift, it all starts with commitent that "no matter I'll shift this for good! And it's a done deal from now on!". It will take some time, but once you start, you start..then you just keep going, step by step, enjoying the process knowing you are shifting it and that way you are becoming it. And one day it just clicks and woohoo! Celebration time! But keep celebrating along the way, any milestone, no matter how tiny. Get used to pat yourself on the back or anything else that makes you feel good, appreciated, rocking. It all counts and you wanna enjoy the process, enjoy yourself throughout the day, enjoying yourself & realizing there's beauty in each moment.

I learned this practice opens my heart, and I was alway a guy who was just up in my head, thinking & figuring things out. Well, there was a lot more. And feeling into my heart..that's just yummy..and the more I do that.. the better it gets. And that's what helps me to go through the "rough" times as it's soothing & nurturing. Simply yummy..beyond yummy..

Being kind to myself no matter what happened, what I did, what I didn't do but "should". Being hard on myself just doesn't work, at least not in my case! And it took me a while to realize that, a long time..oh well. Better now then any later! After all, I am where I am..and I couldn't be anywhere else. The only way to get from where I am to where I want to be..is honesty & receptivity & acceptance of what IS, right now and in every moment. Wanting to be somewhere else is just running from what IS. And that just doesn't work.

Awesome!

Well, I have to confess I had no idea what I'll bump into.

It's really interesting how the patterns are strong and lasting no matter what I do. There are some shifts, but the changes are so subtle that it seems like none compared to what time & energy I put into. And that's what's so tricky about shifting ones patterns. And I understand why only few ever succeeds.

It's like turning a running crude oil tanker around. It takes time as it has momentum and huge mass and the actual turning is impossible to spot. Looking for a change will be tempting yet it might backfire for the shifts are so subtle that it's better to not look for it at all and just know it's happening anyway. Which is tricky itself!

At the same time it's important to notice when something shifts as that adds to your confidence that it's actually different and that you are progressing forward. Not that you can not progress, you progress anyway & always, but it will seem like you are stuck and nothing is happening.

And I can tell you that "being stuck" feels exactly like "being stuck" and it seems real and that's yucky a lot! Yet if that's what's there to be felt..then bring it on! Cause everything you want is on the other side of this so you wanna go through that anyway. Whether you like it or not.

No matter how much I am into this stuff, no matter how long I "know" what's going on and what's required..there come times when I feel like just a freshman/newbie and kind of lost in what's going on. Why is that? Because the stories, the patterns that plays out, the emotions that shows up..all that is just REAL. It's second nature and you just fall victim to it, repeating it.
With time, you might start even wondering what's going on, why you are where you are, why you feel what you feel..even why you keep repeating these patterns over and over. You might even "forgot" to breath and be present to what's going on..simply as if you'd never learn it. It's just crazy! And pretty daunting at times as well.

Yet..the more you practice the easier and quicker your new habbits of presence and breathing kicks in and you'll be able to realize that what you feel ain't real..it's just a story and at some point you are able to create enough distance from it, realizing it's just story replaying..and then you see through it. And there's a relief in that cause it shows you that another layer melted and you are better then before now.

That's also time for celebrating yourself for you did a great job. And I can't stress enough the importance of it! Don't know how about you but I would celebrate the achievements in "reality", be it equity high, better analysis, better trade management etc simply something where I'd do better then before. Yet when things go ugly you don't have much of these if any! And that gets toxic. So you wanna celebrate any progress no matter how tiny or even nonexistent. It pays of. Because there's no such thing as "no progress", "no achievement". We always improve & progress, it's just a matter of awareness & what we focus on. Celebrate yourself often..you'll feel great. And that counts.

With every moment we grow into more, more conscious, more receptive and as such more prosperous as that's what our natural state is. Natural prosperity, easy, intuitive prosperity..without the limitations of fabricated virtues and other conclusions. Those at some point in the past were the only possible way to handle things to stay alive and/or well. But hey..it's 2015 now and it's time to update & upgrade what's no longer serving my highest and best and thrive as much as I can.

I am really surprised on the energies and stories that just comes to the surface. It's just nuts..yet, looking back it makes sense after a while. I could never forsee it comming though. Talk about navigating unknown. Obviously it can be done succesfully as I am doing it over and over. And that's nice awareness. Becoming comfortable in the uncomfortable unknown. Weird? Well, you'll get used to it. I definitely do.

This is more of a confession then anything else but it ilustrates what you might experience so when you'll get there it will be easier for you to orient what's going on. Clarity helps when you find yourself in uncharted watters.

Boy, it definitelly seems like opening a can of worms. At the same time it gets better quickly and it lasts longer, so I take that as a good sign. I see it as with fire. You gotta let the fire go big enough first for bigger & big logs to be burned. It would put out the fire otherwise having big logs and small fire.

No wonder not many people becomes actually profitable traders and stay consistent throughout their trading career.

At least in my case, one of the big revelations were to Take The Loss and Move on. It's easier said then done, but without actually having the experience during my years of trading..I'd never understood the pain and resistance of doing so. It just sucks! Well, not taking the loss and not moving on sucks as well..and it just gets worse till it starts to suck even more! And then one is actually ready to change and starts taking the loss and shift one's energy, one's direction, thoughts, one's future.

It's never the financial pain of last losing trade or loosing period..that's just a reminder, a way of life to pinpoint some unresolved energy from the past, from who know when, that was hidden and limiting, slowing down one's life.

I do confess I tend/tent to take mistakes personally and taking a loss smells like being wrong/admitting a mistake. Ouch? Well, not so much any longer. If it's a mistake, whatever it is, I'm open to see it, be aware of it so I can free myself of it and choose a new, have better choice, more prosperous, more beneficial choice that honors & reflects where I currently am now or where I wanna be in the future. So, yeah..realizing "I am wrong", or "I might be wrong"..is it going to hurt somewhat? In a way yes, short term pain for longer term gain..and even that "pain" isn't as painfull any longer.

But my life had to be really harsh to me to make me open to this. It didn't make sense to me before. Pain seemed like a bad guy and I did my best to avoid it and suppress it. And boy, did I do a "perfect" job. Yet I learned pain is to be felt and experienced so it dissapears. It's nothing else that indication of something that no longer serves me, that limits me in some way and as such it wants and seeks my attention. And pain is a great at getting attention!
And thank goodness!

Btw that's just my perception, might be my hightened sensitivity, you might not perceive it that way at all. We all have our own journey for we are all unique.

The point is, finding out what works for us. That requires just a bit of willingness, creativity and logic. And playfullness as well for it's gotta to be FUN! Making it fun, everything becomes possible as it becomes lighter through the fun/smile/play. So..if you bump into something that doesn't seem to let you progress further much or seemingly at all like I do especially last couple of weeks. Make it fun, experiment, add light to it, make it play, be enthusiastic. Simply add joy into the process. Woohoo!

And that way, you'll move through it.. How long will it take? As long as it needs to.. There's enough time & all is well. Not that I totally own those two just yet, but that's what's there for me to move through..and rise over. Growing & opening that way into more of my true potencial, true magic, natural unlimited prosperity & possibilites. Sounds nuts/unreal? It does to me quite a lot still..I confess. Yet..I am somehow drawn to rise even over these "stories"..so..let's see what awaits me on the other side of these.

Acknowledging the "stuff/stories" proves as beneficial. This brings the underlying energies/emotions up so they can be felt and released as I breath through them adding space, relaxing them tissues/refreshing them tissues.

I kept saying that "Truth hurts" but that actually ain't the truth.

Real Truth is light, expansive..it's yummy, very light..like a smile, like caress.

What hurts is likely that what we thought is the truth, what we feared is the truth, what we didn't wanted to be the truth and feared that. So..what actually hurts..is the Lie missunderstood as the Truth. And as that might go on for a while, there can be a lot of emotions stuck underneath that. So..let's take them losses and move on, shall we?

I kept saying "Only hidden has power over you" but I realized this morning that this ain't true any longer..if it would be..stories would never become visible, they would stay hidden and keep ruling me. And that ain't the truth. I can make visible anything just by acknowledging it, voicing it out, writing it down..and keep doing that as long as it requires.

So from now on "Only hidden HAD power over me..and it no longer does. Wohoo!"

So..consciousness, unconsciousness, superconsciousness..or whatever -"sciousness".. It's all me and I am the boss in this company call ME. And so it is! And that feeels goood! Yeah.

Going through my trading results and the way I trade I noticed basically two types of trades.
1) "In the Flow" trades, where I basically see/feel/know the opportunity comming. I watch the price developing and I listen to what the market tells me. And when I get a GO..I take the trade. There's very little DD if any and even if price would retest the entry point later (which doesn't happen too often) there's already nice profit potencial in the first move.
And the best thing about these trades? It feels beyond peaceful, it's like deep connection with a friend, where you don't have to say anything yet you just enjoy & deeply appreciate each other's presence. Just awsome..
Not the "I gotta make some bucks and I gotta be careful cause there are hungry sharks looking who to screw".

2) "Screw it" trades. These I trades that so far pretty much owns me I confess and I wasn't able to stop myself doing that up to now. I thought I'm already over them, but I did it again just recently..rather shocked that I still couldn't hold myself back from taking those trades. Doh!
So..that's my challenge to find out & resolve why I actually choose to take those trades! And they cost me a lot!
I went through moments prior and through taking those trades and I realized the feeling is pretty much "screw it I'll take it and will see, don't wanna wait for anything, confirmation, price developement, nada..wanna be done with all that c*ap". That sounded quite weird at first as I really love this trading thingy but who I am to question that. When it feels that way I go with it and let's see what comes out of it.

There's another pattern that costs me dearly and saddly to admit it's obviously still present. Oh well, obviously there's more to become aware of! OK, I am all ears.
Btw that pattern is "letting other that I see as skilled/professionals, somebody who obviously knows what they do influence my trading decisions". This pesky pattern is with me for couple of years, not all the times, but usually at those times when it matters the a lot. And even before I was like.."that's weird, that doesn't make sense as I see this here and that over there..can't say why, but this just doesn't somehow fit..", yet I'd ignore my hunch and go with the other's analysis for some 'weird' reason. Auch. Well, the lesson is obviously to TRUST MYSELF/MY KNOWING regardless what I see myself as (compared to others)!
Ok, then. Lesson learned.

Will see how I'll be able to handle the so far "unhandlebar" from now on. I'll take notice anyway and will dig deep enough to uproot all those unprofitable patterns and all those reasons behind them. While accepting & honoring myself and where I currently am. And yeah..I know there's a lot more possible for me and my results even in the short term!

I was wondering why I do repeat certain patterns that just aren't profitable. It turns out that it depends upon ones definition of profitability and it also depends upon what really matters. And what I am realizing is that I don't have a clue or might not have a clue regarding what matters and what's at stake in any given moment.

This missunderstanding resulted in fighting the resistance/protective body mechanism that just is all about maintaining health & well being. We run on Pleasure and Pain, seeking Pleasure while avoiding Pain at all costs. It seems to have something to do with health, hormons etc, basically body balance.

And obviously I underestimated the pain accumulated during the years and as with the fire and the logs, you need fire big enough to burn some bigger logs. And so I was basically seeking Pleasure and still am, as I need plenty of that yumminess to balance the 'painful', 'harmful', 'negative' stuff of the past clearing the deck so to speak.
I was also fighting the resistance that didn't wanted to move me quicker, while it was basically telling me "make the fire bigger otherwise you suffocate the fire".

And so the question was, how to get what I obviously so need asap (the Pleasure) and how to get plenty of it. Obviously waiting for some kind of luck in the markets, or wherever etc isn't an option as that's rather unpredictable & might be harmful in another way. People comes with all kinds of solutions..ending up with addictions. Not a solution for me.

Good news is that Pleasure, Bliss, Peace, Acceptance, Joy, Appreciation, Reward or (whatever it is for an individual) is available all the time, in each moment. It just takes a certain way of tuning into it and then keeping in touch with it.
When I became aware of that..I was like "Can't be, that's not possible" as it felt so unreal compared to the "reality" that was bringing up the unresolved/painful stuff or "should/was expected" to bring up.

Feeling this gets easier the more one resolved the unresolved stuff of the past like mourning for a loss, getting angry for missing a trade etc. The more one cleares the deck the easier is to realize that the Pleasure/feeling great is available right here, right now. And the market can do whatever, your positions might do whatever..and it no longer matters to you..as you no longer base your feeling great/feeling bad on something external & something you can't really count on. You might win, you might loose. So what? Does that crashes your day? It doesn't have to be this way

And knowing this one gets calmer, more peacefull and enjoys himself, the trading, waiting for the opportunity and is actually able to listen to the market a lot more. And market does talk to us, market shares plenty of informations with us. And we can sort of communicate with it, asking questions etc. Staying that way in an open state, open to what is and what's emerging instead of looking into what was or worse dealing with our own unresolved past.

And that's pretty cool and it's yummy! Yeah! So, if you are bumping into something and don't seem to move through or not quick enough. Experiment with celebrating yourself for whatever reason. And if you can't find any? Make it up! Go wild, go creative, go playfull. Life gotta be fun and trading gotta be fun too!

This is valid for you especially if you have been trading for a while and the results aren't what you'd expect and you just somehow know that there should be more possible. That you just should do better, somehow.. Yes, you are right..You can.

Really interesting yourney I have to say. Experiencing this Boom and Bust cycle again and kind of wondering what's going on. Turned out that part of me didn't really want prosperity, success, ease, rocking and standing out and would be pretty happy with loosing everything, being nothing..well, not happy, but it would be considered safe. Oh, boy. Wondering at times whether I am making this up or what.
But! The truth is that there's some inner fight going on, that's for sure. So whatever it is, it sure got big reasons for what it's doing. Since fighting it didn't really work, after all, it has it's reasons..so I am choosing to be nice and understanding and accepting..eventhough I am pretty pissed as well. Oh well, I see it shifting & improving though. Slowly but surely.. Just surprised at what's comming up at times. Just wow..and doh..together.

Interesting how challenging is to take the easy trades and not do anything stupid in between.

Anybody ever wonders why they did what they did? Should be obvious choice to take the easy ones, just the best setups and keep the powder dry otherwise, right? Then how come just a few are able to do it and the rest finds it more or less challenging at least if not down right impossible?

Plukin,

A very well written and thought provoking thread IMHO.

However, apparently I'm wired oppositely to the way that you are. I will try to explain how, by using an analogy.

Supposing casinos were to offer a simple die game: every time the croupier rolls a 1, I lose my bet; every time a 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 is rolled, the casino pays me the amount of my bet, i.e. a 1:1 payoff. I would have absolutely no emotional issues playing such a game. (Supposing, even better, that there were no table limits. Then the only thing stopping me from becoming a billionaire would be that a bazillion other punters would have already bankrupted every casino long before I got to set foot inside the door).

Here is my point: I would have no emotional issues because I know, that (provided I bet conservatively enough relative to my net wealth, to survive any losing streak) I'm one-hundred-percent guaranteed to win this game, over time. I have a rock-solid mathematical edge that will not change tomorrow, not in a week's time, not 5 years from now.

Hence my problem is apparently the opposite of yours. If I could find "easy trades" and "best setups" -- those whose directional or behavioral bias offer the same kind of guaranteed, perpetual edge as in the dice game -- then trading would be a cakewalk for me. Any fear would dissipate completely because I have total assurance that, over time, I'm guaranteed to win merely by executing a simple, proven formula.

Hence I believe that the extent of my fear has less to do with my existential self, and is instead commensurate with the nature of the uncertainty that exists in price behavior -- or at least in my (lack of) knowledge and analytical skill to find, within that uncertainty, an objectively provable edge.

For me, then, the trading journey begins with objective analysis of the market, and only ends with an introspective look at myself.

But of course everybody is different.

David

Hi David, thanks.

My take is that ultimately it goes down to some sort of faith, some might call it knowing. Words, names are not as important as the "essence". You just know that you know that you know. You don't need to know, when, how it's gonna work out. You just "somehow" know it's gonna work out. And when you trully know it, you know it, it feels certain way and it expands throughout time as one grows into more. And to me it doesn't matter whether you believe in Yourself or you believe in God or you believe in you system. What matters is the deep trust in the goodness of one's life and one's ability to navigate unknown gracefuly and profitably with ease.

In which case..what's the Buggyman in the closet? Does any reason for emotional discomfort/issues remains? Even if you would loose the entire account, even if you would loose everything..and I mean everything.
(Apart from loosing a life, that would be a game over and you'd need new body to jump back in )
..so what? Is that a game over? Might look that way, might even feel that way. But is that the truth? Or is there always a way further. A great way towards better, greater, brighter future? Might not always look that way, but when you KNOW that you KNOW..you also understand that You HAVE what it takes and that what happens to you is basicaly your own creation.

So there's no reason for fear of the future, fear of loosing it all, fear of not making enough, fear of what's gonna happen. You might perceive that fear, that's ok, fear will sort of always be present at times..but it's no longer a problem. Why? Cause you KNOW that you are OK no matter what. Cause you KNOW that you are Source of you your life, and abundant one. It's not automatic thought, so you kind of have to allow it, say Yes to it. Cause it's not something we are used to know. At least not in my case and most people I came in contact with.

Btw when the fear of unknown melts you'll be suprised that you actually ARE able to navigate unknown, you get to an open state where you perceive all the informations that market presents and you'll be able to perceive what's going to happen as you'll notice what's emerging.
There's a lot to explain about this and why it matters and how it actually influences how a trader approaches market and the information market provides. Mark Douglas in his Trading in the zone explains that in greater details.

So, unless you are OK with the unknown and still trusting/deeply knowing you'll be profitable, cause you are able to be profitable even if you don't know what's going to happen..then objective analysis of market is questionable at best. Why? Cause if you don't know what's going to happen and you aren't OK with that, that brings up some sort of fear. As long as this emotion is present your ability to perceive what market presence is limited, thus you might miss something or make something up. And later would be like "How come I didn't see this? How come I did that?".

So how can you be sure about your ability to objectively analyse the market when you might not even be able to objectively understand what influences you? And there might be all sorts of hidden agengy running in the background that might be in conflict with what you consciously choose. Which is profitable trading and milking them markets. Or being a billionair as you mentioned. And believe me or not, if you wanna be a billionair and you aren't, there is stuff in your system that says "it's just not OK/safe to be a billionair!"..and as long as this is present it's gonna be as if there's an invisible anchor holding you back/slowing you down.

Btw Mark Douglas in his book also touches on this supposed "lack of knowledge/ability to analyse the markets" and basically calls it a trap. And I agree with him. Experience and knowledge helps to an extent, but I myself had my entire first year of trading profitable..did I had experience? Nope. Did I had some market knowledge? Nope. So what made them profits?

As long as there's some fear in one's system a trader doesn't want to face or doesn't even know he has to face it in order to be profitable, the trading will be challenging or the equity growth will be slow. And the trader will be like.. "Gosh, it's gotta be easier/better!"

There are basically 2 ways of dealing with it.
1) Keep the risk low so the emotions won't bother one.
2) Finding out what's the Buggyman in the closet and through that neutralize the reason for emotional based trading.

I myself invite everyone to choose the 2nd option and to get to the root cause of it. There are just benefits affecting the entire life and well-being and there's no downside to this choice. Unless you see "being proven wrong" or "having some conclussions corrected" as a downside. I admit this was big problem for me and it could present great challenge. But the payoff..oh boy. Totaly worth it. Why? I'd say one of the fear is "fear of unknown" and "whether one actually gonna be ok or even doing well no matter what happens". And that's pretty much what trading is about.

Even if you have great edge, even if you have a great system, even if you have a great MM or whatever. You still might screw big time. Maybe your gf will break with you and you'll go berserk forgetting all the rules you have ever set..after all not knowing how to handle your emotions how can you follow some rules when gf 'broke' your hear? Or it could be some 'bad news' regarding dear one, a family member, friend or whatever.

Btw we are wired the way we choose to. It's not conscious choice for most people up to now but it's certainly the opportunity and choice. So no matter how you are wired now it can shift and you are in the driver's seat.
Basically does it work for you? Great. Does it feel like there's more or it could be better? Great. Cause it can. A lot.

So, I am glad that it's thought provoking, cause that's what I am after. Inspiring people, making them think.."Hmm, what if there's something onto it? Hmm, could it be really different? My trading experience? The way I approach markets? The way I trade? The way I perceive money? Profits? Loss? The way it affects me? Or should it affect me at all? After all, what does it have to do with Me anyway?"

There's great quote. "Do you want to be right or wealthy?"
(Works the same way whether you put healthy, happy etc. It's all the same)
And you CAN'T have it both in this case. Either or..so what do you choose?

I myself learned to be OK with being wrong..even bigtime. And yes, it still hurts to this day..but the relief that follows afterwards is just worth it. Btw "fear of wrong" is covered by Mark Douglas as well.

So, David, are you still so sure it's about objective market analysis and not so much about you? After all, who's doing the analysis? Who is running the eyes, brain, who is gathering all the data and who is making the decision? And what rules are actually used to filter all that information? And what rules are actually used to then take an action? What are the priorities? What trully matters to you, to the system that makes those decision? Do you know it? Or do you think or hope you know it? And is that the truth? Or is something else going on?

Did you know that we perceive billion bits of information in any moment yet it gets filtered to some 8 bits? Yep, just 8 bits. And who knows based on what the rest is just not taken into account! That makes us pretty much like horses with blinders. Ouch.

I see that as a great opportunity to upgrade our decision making process the way it really serves an individual.

So, again, if trading (or anything else) brings up some emotional discomfort of yours..what's the Buggyman in the closet? What does it matter? Let's clear the deck/closet..and lets keep it clear. And enjoy ourselves, trading and the entire day more!

Lukin.

Lukin,

One of my favorite chapters in Trading in the Zone is the one where Mr Douglas talks about blackjack, and how it's possible for the casino to win over time, while the outcome of every hand is nonetheless random. It is possible, as the author explains, because the game rules provide the casino with a mathematical edge, and that over a large enough number of hands, the P/L will necessarily gravitate toward this expectancy value. A lot of the discussion in that chapter is about understanding the nature of an edge, and how to gear one's expectations accordingly -- all of which makes the assumption that the trader already has some kind of methodological edge. IMHO topherhk88 also explains it neatly here:
I don't want to get too involved in a discussion on how to best obtain such an 'edge'. From what I recall in the Market Wizards type books, some expert traders are more analytical in their approach, while others are more intuitive. Everybody is different.

Like everybody else, I've participated in all kinds of activities during my life, some involve more uncertainty, and necessitate greater risk-taking, than others. One (possibly obvious) thing I've learned about myself is that the higher the uncertainty involved in an outcome, the greater my level of anxious discomfort. Now I am the 'constant' in each case; it is the nature of the uncertainty that is variable, and determines the level of my anxiety. Hence the dice game analogy in my earlier post, and my conclusion that my own fears emanate more from the nature of the risks inherent in the activity, than from my existential self. Unlike with blackjack, trading probabilities can't be precisely calculated, hence I sense the level of uncertainty as being greater.

Perhaps I'm mistaken when I talk about objectively analyzing the market. After all, when one trader sees a reason to buy, the trader who willingly takes the opposing position views exactly the same price chart, and finds in it a reason to sell. Hence it could be reasonably argued that all analysis is subjective. But if systematically applying a given rationale provides an edge that leads to profit, then in so far as that rationale can be unambiguously defined, it can be said to be objective. Hence I think it's possible to argue a case either way.

Anyway, thanks for your comprehensive and thought-provoking reply. I'll exit the discussion at this point, and see how my current trades are progressing.

All the best,
David

nice trade plukin, i have this issue now

how you could identify this emotion before it take control your mind, this is where im failing,