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This newsletter continues with some small grabs from my upcoming book the Zen Trader. It also contains a free 15 minute meditation I designed specifically for traders - although anyone will find it useful.
With the markets challenging us at the moment with uncertainty, volatility and for many probably equity drawdown, there is no better time to evaluate your thinking. Clarity of thinking is the key to discovering what may be holding you back, or helpful in improving your performance at work and quality of life. The Zen Trader was written not just for enhancing performance and life - but also for times like these.
You need a system for your trading and investment and one for your mind as well.
Here is a sample from Chapter 4 of the Zen Trader
"The Buddha had a system"
As mentioned in the previous chapter, the Buddha wrote the Four Noble Truths, however it's the first two that impact the most:
1. Life is suffering.
2. The cause of suffering is attachment.
For traders, here they are again with a change of phrasing.
1. Trading and life can be tough.
2. To make trading and life easier, we need to learn detachment.
It is worth mentioning early in this book that mindfulness alone is not detachment.
Mindfulness on its own, although important, won’t make you a master trader. Zen is a perfect fit for trading because it teaches discipline, focus, acceptance and (you might not like to hear this) moral values. Is the teaching of moral values in Zen a religious hang-up? Absolutely not. Its purpose is to protect your mind, and your peace of mind. Ask any trader who has tried to be successful while having an affair or indulging in drugs, sex, gambling, food, alcohol or even an exercise addiction: they will verify that these pastimes are unhealthy coping strategies, often a result of a stressed and turbulent state of mind.
Avoiding your personal problems by trading (especially if you are just gambling for excitement or avoidance) will kill your profits. It might even kill you. To be a consistently successful trader over the long term, you will need to face your demons, not run away from them.
You will develop insight and strength by following the Buddha’s system.
A reminder that if you are interested in my weekly market comments (featuring this week the Gold market) also the 52 week closing highs for the ASX, then click on the link below where I post them every weekend.
https://www.easysharetradingsystems.com.au/how-to-trade/52-week-highs
I will follow up this email with another ASAP - containing a small example from the next chapter, until then live and trade well - and click on the Harriman's link below for more info about the book. You can also buy the book from Amazon, Booktopia and Audible. The link below also contains the free meditation, just scroll down the page.
https://www.easysharetradingsystems.com.au/products-and-services/e-books/zen-trader
A Zen saying
The mind is everything – what you think, you become.
Peter
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