No Requirements to Be Happy: Part II

I'd like to continue on last week's topics - that happiness just comes from your "beingness", not from things or what happens. Good traders are into simplicity and the joy of life. That's part of what makes them good traders. And when you can learn to "BE" these things, then you'll find that your trading will improve as a result of just being.

What most of us really want are mental states such as joy, love and freedom. To have those states, you need to merely step into them. They have nothing to do with what you have or do. Instead, they have everything to do with being. To raise the quality of your life, you need only look around you and rejoice. Are you having fun? Do you feel lighter? Are you experiencing more pleasure in the simplest things?

Reality, to take a quote from Laughing with God, is all possibilities. It is absolute possibility. In fact, God says, "All possibility is infinitely interesting, whereas some possibility is somewhat interesting, and one possibility is a problem." In life, we get upset when we think that our possibilities have been limited. Yet we also feel secure when we have certainty and possibilities are eliminated.

Someone asked me a question one day when they starting thinking about all of the bad news in the markets. It went something like, "What is going to happen to the markets with the potential bear market, the devaluation of the dollar, and everything else that is going on. I find it a little scary and it makes it hard to pull the trigger." What they want is one possibility - the markets going up. Yet the moment people feel that other possibilities are lost - for example, suppose someone says the markets will only go up - they act as if they've lost something or been robbed of something. What do you know? How can the markets only go up? We want that uncertainty that comes from not knowing.

A critical difference between good traders and the average trader is that good traders thrive on simplicity and not knowing. They come from being and simply go with the flow of the markets. If the markets tell them it's time to go up, then they buy. They might be wrong 60% of the time, but that is part of the game. They'll get out when the markets are no longer going up. They do this by simply observing what is happening, and are much more joyful because they are going with the flow. They allow themselves to let their profits run, because it's okay to be in the market when it is going up. They also allow themselves to get out, because it's okay to get out when the markets start to do something else.

What I've just described is pure trading. Its essence is simple. It doesn't require a lot of time. Instead, it gives you lots of time to play. It also involves seeing all possibilities and being in the flow of what is happening right now. You cannot do this if you are preoccupied with being right, doing hard work, or having money or profits. You can only do this when your mind is pure and you can be at one with what is going on around you.

Try some simple tips:

1. Give up being right and embrace every possibility. You'll find that by not predicting the markets and enjoying the uncertainty, you are more apt to be able to observe what the markets are doing right now.
2. Add novelty to your life. Find five habits that you have and break them. If you put your trousers on with your right leg first, start with the left leg. If you listen to the phone with your right ear, then pick it up with your left hand. Take two-plus hours to eat dinner and savor every bite. Go on a romantic holiday and make love in a new place every day in a different manner.
3. Pick several things that you do (especially in trading) and find a simpler way to do them. For example, if you are a day trader, open up a position and either take a loss or get out at the end of the day. When you do that you are not tied to the market all day. And you might find that you take small losses and get huge profits. Simplify your entry technique and concentrate on exits. Or simplify both your entry and exits and concentrate on position sizing.
4. Spend a full day doing absolutely nothing except meditating or walking outside.
5. Make a new friend and teach them how joyous life can be. Pick someone who needs this lesson.