The complexity of a trading system has little to do with the markets . . . it has mostly to do with your emotions. - Ed Seykota I've been teaching meditation since the early 70s. You may find the following useful as a guide for cultivating clarity. Being With Your Breath and the Stillness of the Moment The air that you breathe is nature, as is the breathing process itself. Bring your attention to your breathing and realize that you are not doing it. It is the breath of nature. If you had to remember to breathe, you would soon die, and if you tried to stop breathing, nature would prevail. You reconnect with nature in the most intimate and powerful way by becoming aware of your breathing and learning to hold your attention there. This is a healing and deeply empowering thing to do. It brings about a shift in consciousness from the conceptual world of thought to the inner realm of unconditioned consciousness. from Stillness Speaks - Eckhart Tollee The cherry blossoms having fallen, Enjoji Temple Is quiet once more. - Onitsura Meditating is a simple, natural way to revitalize every cell in your body. All thatâs required is a place to sit undisturbed for 10-20 minutes, once or twice a day. You could meditate on the bus on the way to and from work but a better place would be where itâs quiet. Find a comfortable chair or cushion to sit on. Sit comfortably. Close your eyes and observe the natural flow of your mind . . . thoughts of what youâre going to be doing that day . . . daydreams and mind wanderings. Now bring your attention to your breath. Breathe through your nose and begin to observe your breath as you breathe in and breathe out. Observe whatever your breath is doing. When you notice that you are absorbed in your thoughts, bring your attention back to your breath in a natural, easy way. Your attention is moving inward. The center of your meditation is the breath . . . Without any effort, your breath will become finer and finer. Your body will be deeper in rest. And your mind will awaken to the finest texture of your breath. Awaken to the sound of your breath . . . to the moisture of your breath. Thoughts will come and go like clouds passing in the sky. Bring your attention back to your breath. Sit in the stillness of the moment. Your body is in a state of deep rest, and your mind is awakening. Softening . . . relaxing . . . focusing. Just like when youâre reading a book at your favorite cafe, youâll sometimes be aware of your surroundings and sometimes will be absorbed . . . lost in another story. In meditation, youâll sometimes be aware of a horn honking, a bird chirping, or a child laughing. And sometimes youâll be completely absorbed in the joy of settling into a state of pure clarity . . . experiencing the gap between your breath moving inward and moving outward. Pure awareness. You could use a timer or your intuition to let you know when 10-20 minutes is up. Before opening your eyes, let your attention flow from your breath to your thoughts and outer surroundings. Sit or lie down for a few minutes before opening your eyes. Then open your eyes and stretch before getting up. If you fall asleep . . . If you fall asleep while meditating, thatâs a good sign that you are experiencing deeper relaxation and your body needs sleep. If you feel like taking a nap after meditating, take a nap. As your body returns to a natural balance, youâll feel more energy and more relaxation throughout the day as you continue to meditate. The best times to meditate are before breakfast and dinner. You should sit to meditate but, if you arenât feeling well meditate lying down. As good as you might feel, you shouldnât meditate longer than 30 minutes twice a day. As you continue to meditate, that good feeling will become part of the fabric of your daily experience. Your nervous system will begin to reflect a new state of restfulness and alertness. Youâll begin to feel both more relaxed and more alert in everything you do. From the silence of your being . . . your mind and body will begin to radiate with clarity and health. Enjoy
"POKER RULE #86: Eliminate macho" Fighting the trend and pressing the luck factor are the quickest ways to dig a hole. Eliminate marginal trades. Instead, use the money to cushion the losses from the qualified setups.
Perfect example.. today I tried to get long the ES and had my ass handed to me.. and my Ass has gotten pretty big lately too.. not a pretty sight..
The exact same thing happens in poker. Things start going overly well and we start getting a little too "full of ourselves" and self-inflating our view of the way things are going to be, and our abilities, and there is usually something waiting around the next corner to bring us back to earth again. --Larry Phillips
I only traded a bit the morning because I have to bring my wife to check up and I couldn't believe the drop when I came back. I did lost some money trying scalp long and did not manage my stop as well as I should. Now it doesn't look all that bad. This is payday for the ORB (open range breakout) trader. Feel some negative vibe for the year. Live and fight another day!
You think your ass was handed to you?! I was sodomized today trading the NQ! And to think that I wanted to go short at 1621.50 (PP) but didn't get filled. Would someone shoot me?....Please!
You couldn't be more right Larry.. the reason this happened was overconfidence.. have been trading very well and earlier yesterday morning made two mediocre trades that I managed to exit with a small profit.. then the market went against the position I had on.. so I patted myself on the back.. thinking I could trade my way out of anything basically, I went on to totally screw up my day Every big losing day I have had has come in this fashion.. resulting from overconfidence..
Hey Guys, I'm staying out of the market today for both of the reasons mentioned previously. I got f--king nailed yesterday. When a day like yesterday happens I stop for a few days and analyze my mistakes. It was pure overconfidence. I had all winning days in nov. and dec. and I just plain got cocky. I am an idiot not to remember past years where the end of the year will rally and then some craziness of the new year ensues... In general I used overly liberal stops and larger than normal size and paid for it. Funny how the day I decide to increase my risk is the day I get burned. Funny how many times I've learned this lesson the hard way Regards, Mike
In the World Series of Poker main event this past year ($10,000 buy-in) there were 2600 entrants. A great percentage of this number (maybe 2,000) were amateurs, recreational players, semi-pros, and people who qualified by playing online. Many of the top pros went into this situation basically overly confident in much the same way, and (interviewed later) some said they may have "pushed a little too hard". Result: many of the top players in the world were gone after the first day. Moral of the story: they too needed to back off a little more than they were doing. It's an easy mistake to make-- as well as a fine line to walk-- being confident against being overconfident. For some reason this is a lesson all of us keep learning and re-learning. Larry Phillips