Nice concept. I'm not sure how quite you can use that same emotion to overcome its shortcomings, my approach has always been to do what I can to catch it kicking in and clear it out. Typically, the fear and greed can be seen as opposites in that they are opposite extremes. For example, one could easily go through a "turn winner into loser" experience out of greed, and then meet it with fear the next time around only to take your money too soon the next time out of fear. For that reason, I don't think it's all that possible to combat one with the other. You can't quite set a middle ground for it, because you can't be sure where to lean in each particular time. Point blank, I'm at my most successful when I don't let any emotion at all get in. Numbers, facts, information. Get in, get out based on that.
I'm not clear on just what it is that Denise is trying to do, but I agree with UVLC that the various "emotions" that plague us - such as fear, greed, hope, doubt, anxiety, etc - are all manifestations of the same thing, i.e., fear. Managing fear becomes much easier when one recognizes it for what it is rather than being distracted by whatever guise it may be wearing at the time.
What stops a person from deciding they just don't want to be scared anymore? What prevents a person from saying "FU$% this, I'm tired of feeling this way" and decide not to feel it anymore? It happens most often at rock bottom but there are times when people just decide to "Just Do It". A great (true) story: A dad was in the pool below the high dive and was waiting for his young daughter to go off for the first time. He watched her climb up, walk to the end then turn around several times and walk back down. On the sixth time, he watched her climb right back up, take a deep breath and jumped right off without any hesitation at all. Once she swam to the side of the pool he asked her "Why was the last time different from the others?" She replied, "Well I was going to be scared whether I jumped or not, so I decided to be scared and do what I wanted to do." I think it is fascinating when people just "decide" to do what they want to do. Or decide that they've had it and come hell or high water they're going to do what they want to do but in the past some belief has held them back from doing it.
I couldn't agree more with darkhorse. Thank you both. Marketsurfer thanks for the link!!! darkhorse thanks for you comment. Due to my respect for you opinions I decided to take a look at the articles after I read you comment. I am really glad I did. They are great!!!! This is why I really love this site (most of the time) Again thanks to both of you.
My lack of "greed" has lost me alot more money in the long run, then my "greed" has. I guess it is all relative, but for a speculator such as myself, who is not at all interested in closing out more winning trades than losing ones, "greed" and the ability to be a PIG is most definately a neccessary component... Being that many around here buy into that old sucker maxim, "No one ever went broke taking a profit", I suspect this post will be regarded as jibber-jabber by most... PEACE and good-specul8tion
Excellent post, facultus. I have often given thought to the same idea. I suppose the question is whether the process can be moved along, or whether each person must go at his or her own pace irrespective of the psychological methods employed, if any. Although I am not discounting the value of therapy in whatever form it takes, I sometimes wonder to what extent it is just so much noise until the subject decides, "This is it!" Until that point is reached, I question whether any form of therapy can really help. The bottom line is, can any form of therapy hurry the subject along to this critical juncture? Stated differently, although I believe that the therapy (be it psychoanalysis, cognitive, "bibliotherapy," pharmacology or whatever) may play a role, I wonder what its weight really is in the overall scheme of things. Is the therapy the cause or the effect of the improvement? That is, is the effort to seek out help the first in a series of steps to "just do it" and the nature of the therapy itself largely (though not necessarily entirely) incidental? After all, there are people who swear by their form of therapy, even though their method may be diametrically opposed to methods that other people swear by. So, is it a case of different methods for different people, or is it a matter of anything within reason when the subject is finally ready to "just do it?" Just a few idle thoughts.
Thats a great point. All forms of therapy will work if the person wants to change. Anyone can lose weight if they want to, anyone can stop smoking if they want to. Too many people want a painless "fix" to their problem and that is not the way the world works. Growth means challenge. Too many people are learning "buzz words" for their "conditions" and ultimately their conditions now have control of their lives because they were either born that way or have an imbalance. The growth of prescribing drugs for conditions that have been around since man, is a bit scary. Anyone watch Seinfeld when George decides to do everything completely opposite and achieves fantastic results? I have been toying around with the idea of really becoming the person I want to become by deciding to drop the habits that do not allow that to happen. To look at things 180 degrees from what I'm used to. To live in each moment and give it 100%. Do I expect it to be easy? Nope, do I expect to fail at times, yep, but I want to question myself "Is this the behavior of the person I want to be?" I know what my strengths are, I know what my weaknesses are, but what kind of concentration and focus will it take to drop the baggage and JUST FU$%ING DO IT? Maybe a journal might help.
One of the objectives of therapy is to enable the client to achieve clarity. Since it helps to be able to use language (labels, classifications, etc) to think about abstractions, therapy usually is centered around talk. Unfortunately, many therapists become enamored of jargon and often wind up believing that the word or label is the thing, as do their clients. This enables everyone to bandy all sorts of labels about and create the impression that they've achieved some sort of understanding when all they've done is increase their vocabulary. If, however, one can achieve the desired clarity and understand just what behaviors are appropriate to the goal and which aren't, he is then far more likely to be successful in replacing one set of behaviors with another and "becoming" the person that he wants to be (this used to be called "Reality Therapy"; maybe it still is). Our behaviors are, after all, largely a result of a long and complex reward structure that began as soon as we were receptive to stimuli. Those behaviors can be changed if we are willing to value a different reward structure, but doing so can be extraordinarily difficult, which is why "patients" are so often getting better, but never really get well.