Invisible Hand That Limits Your Tradingt

[Rande Howell 10]

"There seems to be an invisible hand that is guiding my trading, and I don't seem to have much say-so in the matter," a trader laments to me. She continues, "I'm buying your book because I do not understand why I keep on doing the things that I do, when I know what I am supposed to do. But it is not what I'm supposed to do that I do. Rather it is what I'm NOT supposed to be doing that I do.

 

I hold on to trades too long in both directions. I know what my rules say about my stops and my targets. But I'll be there one second, then my evil twin takes over my mind. And I do things that I know are not good trading. It's almost like I get possessed, and when I wake up from the trance, all I can do is kick myself for not following my plan.

 

What's going on? Don't lecture me about discipline and putting my emotions down at the door of my trading room. I've heard all that, but this invisible hand seems to creep in and all the discipline I have in other areas of my life seems to vanish in the mist."

 

The Elephant in the Living Room

 

Have you ever experienced what this trader is describing? She knows how to trade. She has a deep background in finance and accounting. She doesn't experience debilitating fear in her trading. And she is a moderately successful trader. She makes money. But she recognizes that she is hitting an invisible glass ceiling that is stopping her from moving to the next level. And she can't see what she can't see. She suspects that there is an elephant in her living room, that if she only had the eyes to see, she would be able to see what is limiting her and her trading.

 

Trading, History, Biology, and Mind

 

Taking a step beyond quick fix, short term, solutions to self limiting patterns is the first step. Understanding emotion as far more than feelings is the head knowledge that you will need to cultivate. Fundamentally emotion is about the way the organism you are builds predictable responses to the uncertainty of adapting to the circumstances of life.

 

The brain is what directs this process of adaptation and it is emotion driven. Feeling is merely the subjective experience of an emotion. It is like seeing an iceberg -- the vast majority of it is below the surface. Feeling is the tip of the iceberg. If you remain ignorant of the power of emotion, then you put yourself in the same situation that the Titanic found itself.

 

It is the genesis and stability of neurally wired patterns of responding to environmental cues that is at the crux of understanding (and managing) emotion. In essence, your brain is a pattern-making machine that is mandated to avoid threat. And your brain cannot separate uncertainty, worry, and fear from one another. This is exactly what the trader quoted above is stuck in.

 

Now, let's add one more element to our trader's dilemma of her invisible hand guiding her trading. She's right. She was born (actually her brain) into a soup of beliefs, biases, and perceptions (called her family circumstance) and her brain incorporated these "stories" into a narrative that became "her". This is the environment into which her brain adapted her. And it happened long before she could think or question the assumptions that organized the way she perceived her environment. This became her "invisible hand".

 

In her world, she organized herself into a narrative that avoided uncertainty. It was what her family did and "what monkey see, monkey do". The assumptions became her beliefs. Until she got into trading, there was no reason to question these assumptions turned beliefs in her brain/mind. Life was pretty good.

 

Her trading has forced her to bump up against her comfort zone (known as a perceptual map to the neuro-science minded). Now the internal guidance system that was so successful in producing adaptive survival is no longer functioning effectively in this new environment called trading where working with uncertainty is a required operational skill.

 

Now her job is to de-construct the old money/risk narrative that she was born into and adapted to (her invisible hand). And she will need to construct a new narrative where the brain adapts to uncertainty as an element of her environment to be embraced. And mastered.

 

Biology Meets Mind

Our family histories get embedded into our belief systems in the organic substrate called your brain. Your job as a trader is to become the designer of the beliefs that drive your trading. Otherwise you will stay stuck in the self limiting beliefs that your brain adapted you to -- designed for a different environment and a different time. The Invisible Hand will remain a force that drives your trading until you develop the mindfulness and the skills to "re-develop" the narrative that you confuse with "your thoughts".

 

Those thoughts are not yours. They own you. They are the histories of family narratives getting wired into your brain. They become your blinders. You see only what they allow you to see. Breaking out of this invisible prison opens you to see a new kind of freedom. A freedom to " become". A freedom to become the beliefs that drive peak performance trading.

 

With this in mind, what were the stories and narratives about uncertainty, risk, worry, and fear that you were born into? How did they shape your world? And how are these long hidden narratives embedded in the neural pathways of your brain impacting your trading today?

 

Rande Howell

[TheBigMan 10]

Sounds to me like you have demons. Try an exorcism. LOL:haha:

 

 

"There seems to be an invisible hand that is guiding my trading, and I don't seem to have much say-so in the matter," a trader laments to me. She continues, "I'm buying your book because I do not understand why I keep on doing the things that I do, when I know what I am supposed to do. But it is not what I'm supposed to do that I do. Rather it is what I'm NOT supposed to be doing that I do.

 

I hold on to trades too long in both directions. I know what my rules say about my stops and my targets. But I'll be there one second, then my evil twin takes over my mind. And I do things that I know are not good trading. It's almost like I get possessed, and when I wake up from the trance, all I can do is kick myself for not following my plan.

 

What's going on? Don't lecture me about discipline and putting my emotions down at the door of my trading room. I've heard all that, but this invisible hand seems to creep in and all the discipline I have in other areas of my life seems to vanish in the mist."

 

The Elephant in the Living Room

 

Have you ever experienced what this trader is describing? She knows how to trade. She has a deep background in finance and accounting. She doesn't experience debilitating fear in her trading. And she is a moderately successful trader. She makes money. But she recognizes that she is hitting an invisible glass ceiling that is stopping her from moving to the next level. And she can't see what she can't see. She suspects that there is an elephant in her living room, that if she only had the eyes to see, she would be able to see what is limiting her and her trading.

 

Trading, History, Biology, and Mind

 

Taking a step beyond quick fix, short term, solutions to self limiting patterns is the first step. Understanding emotion as far more than feelings is the head knowledge that you will need to cultivate. Fundamentally emotion is about the way the organism you are builds predictable responses to the uncertainty of adapting to the circumstances of life.

 

The brain is what directs this process of adaptation and it is emotion driven. Feeling is merely the subjective experience of an emotion. It is like seeing an iceberg -- the vast majority of it is below the surface. Feeling is the tip of the iceberg. If you remain ignorant of the power of emotion, then you put yourself in the same situation that the Titanic found itself.

 

It is the genesis and stability of neurally wired patterns of responding to environmental cues that is at the crux of understanding (and managing) emotion. In essence, your brain is a pattern-making machine that is mandated to avoid threat. And your brain cannot separate uncertainty, worry, and fear from one another. This is exactly what the trader quoted above is stuck in.

 

Now, let's add one more element to our trader's dilemma of her invisible hand guiding her trading. She's right. She was born (actually her brain) into a soup of beliefs, biases, and perceptions (called her family circumstance) and her brain incorporated these "stories" into a narrative that became "her". This is the environment into which her brain adapted her. And it happened long before she could think or question the assumptions that organized the way she perceived her environment. This became her "invisible hand".

 

In her world, she organized herself into a narrative that avoided uncertainty. It was what her family did and "what monkey see, monkey do". The assumptions became her beliefs. Until she got into trading, there was no reason to question these assumptions turned beliefs in her brain/mind. Life was pretty good.

 

Her trading has forced her to bump up against her comfort zone (known as a perceptual map to the neuro-science minded). Now the internal guidance system that was so successful in producing adaptive survival is no longer functioning effectively in this new environment called trading where working with uncertainty is a required operational skill.

 

Now her job is to de-construct the old money/risk narrative that she was born into and adapted to (her invisible hand). And she will need to construct a new narrative where the brain adapts to uncertainty as an element of her environment to be embraced. And mastered.

 

Biology Meets Mind

Our family histories get embedded into our belief systems in the organic substrate called your brain. Your job as a trader is to become the designer of the beliefs that drive your trading. Otherwise you will stay stuck in the self limiting beliefs that your brain adapted you to -- designed for a different environment and a different time. The Invisible Hand will remain a force that drives your trading until you develop the mindfulness and the skills to "re-develop" the narrative that you confuse with "your thoughts".

 

Those thoughts are not yours. They own you. They are the histories of family narratives getting wired into your brain. They become your blinders. You see only what they allow you to see. Breaking out of this invisible prison opens you to see a new kind of freedom. A freedom to " become". A freedom to become the beliefs that drive peak performance trading.

 

With this in mind, what were the stories and narratives about uncertainty, risk, worry, and fear that you were born into? How did they shape your world? And how are these long hidden narratives embedded in the neural pathways of your brain impacting your trading today?

 

Rande Howell

[Rande Howell 10]

Sounds to me like you have demons. Try an exorcism. LOL:haha:

 

All of us have psychological demons that block our potential. If you want to experience yours, and you have fear of pulling the trigger, listen to the internal conflict that occurs in your mind and freezes your capacity to act. If you have probability on your side, what is the force inside you that stops you from pulling the trigger? That is what I call a psychological demon. I know few traders who don't wrestle with theirs.

 

Rande Howell

[ahimsa 10]

"There seems to be an invisible hand that is guiding my trading, and I don't seem to have much say-so in the matter," a trader laments to me. She continues, "I'm buying your book because I do not understand why I keep on doing the things that I do, when I know what I am supposed to do. But it is not what I'm supposed to do that I do. Rather it is what I'm NOT supposed to be doing that I do.

 

I hold on to trades too long in both directions. I know what my rules say about my stops and my targets. But I'll be there one second, then my evil twin takes over my mind. And I do things that I know are not good trading. It's almost like I get possessed, and when I wake up from the trance, all I can do is kick myself for not following my plan.

 

What's going on? Don't lecture me about discipline and putting my emotions down at the door of my trading room. I've heard all that, but this invisible hand seems to creep in and all the discipline I have in other areas of my life seems to vanish in the mist."

 

The Elephant in the Living Room

 

Have you ever experienced what this trader is describing? She knows how to trade. She has a deep background in finance and accounting. She doesn't experience debilitating fear in her trading. And she is a moderately successful trader. She makes money. But she recognizes that she is hitting an invisible glass ceiling that is stopping her from moving to the next level. And she can't see what she can't see. She suspects that there is an elephant in her living room, that if she only had the eyes to see, she would be able to see what is limiting her and her trading.

 

Trading, History, Biology, and Mind

 

Taking a step beyond quick fix, short term, solutions to self limiting patterns is the first step. Understanding emotion as far more than feelings is the head knowledge that you will need to cultivate. Fundamentally emotion is about the way the organism you are builds predictable responses to the uncertainty of adapting to the circumstances of life.

 

The brain is what directs this process of adaptation and it is emotion driven. Feeling is merely the subjective experience of an emotion. It is like seeing an iceberg -- the vast majority of it is below the surface. Feeling is the tip of the iceberg. If you remain ignorant of the power of emotion, then you put yourself in the same situation that the Titanic found itself.

 

It is the genesis and stability of neurally wired patterns of responding to environmental cues that is at the crux of understanding (and managing) emotion. In essence, your brain is a pattern-making machine that is mandated to avoid threat. And your brain cannot separate uncertainty, worry, and fear from one another. This is exactly what the trader quoted above is stuck in.

 

Now, let's add one more element to our trader's dilemma of her invisible hand guiding her trading. She's right. She was born (actually her brain) into a soup of beliefs, biases, and perceptions (called her family circumstance) and her brain incorporated these "stories" into a narrative that became "her". This is the environment into which her brain adapted her. And it happened long before she could think or question the assumptions that organized the way she perceived her environment. This became her "invisible hand".

 

In her world, she organized herself into a narrative that avoided uncertainty. It was what her family did and "what monkey see, monkey do". The assumptions became her beliefs. Until she got into trading, there was no reason to question these assumptions turned beliefs in her brain/mind. Life was pretty good.

 

Her trading has forced her to bump up against her comfort zone (known as a perceptual map to the neuro-science minded). Now the internal guidance system that was so successful in producing adaptive survival is no longer functioning effectively in this new environment called trading where working with uncertainty is a required operational skill.

 

Now her job is to de-construct the old money/risk narrative that she was born into and adapted to (her invisible hand). And she will need to construct a new narrative where the brain adapts to uncertainty as an element of her environment to be embraced. And mastered.

 

Biology Meets Mind

Our family histories get embedded into our belief systems in the organic substrate called your brain. Your job as a trader is to become the designer of the beliefs that drive your trading. Otherwise you will stay stuck in the self limiting beliefs that your brain adapted you to -- designed for a different environment and a different time. The Invisible Hand will remain a force that drives your trading until you develop the mindfulness and the skills to "re-develop" the narrative that you confuse with "your thoughts".

 

Those thoughts are not yours. They own you. They are the histories of family narratives getting wired into your brain. They become your blinders. You see only what they allow you to see. Breaking out of this invisible prison opens you to see a new kind of freedom. A freedom to " become". A freedom to become the beliefs that drive peak performance trading.

 

With this in mind, what were the stories and narratives about uncertainty, risk, worry, and fear that you were born into? How did they shape your world? And how are these long hidden narratives embedded in the neural pathways of your brain impacting your trading today?

 

Rande Howell

 

 

hello Rande,sorry but talking about the" thoughts are not yours,...they become your blinders....ecc.maybe, you take like example a sartre's thinking.?...when he said that it's all,inuseful,free,non-sense..and the freedom is'nt more a privilege but a sentence?and we needed a new kind of freedom!sorry maybe i'm wrong but maybe i realized this,because i'm reading now this...? thanks in advance..

 

certenotti

[Tradewinds 12]

The issue of doing what you know you shouldn't do, is not just a trading issue. It's a basic human flaw that plays itself out in every aspect of life. Typically, traders talk about the fear and greed problem. But how do we stop the fear, greed or any other emotional, or automatic response that causes a bad decision?

In order to deal with this problem in real time, we must recognize the thoughts and feelings that trigger the break down of our rational thought, and the recognition needs to be instantaneous, . . . as it is happening. Then you must intentionally go against the influences that you know are wrong. Think of what it must be like for a bird to jump out of the nest and fly for the first time. So you must intentionally step into the fear, and depend upon your strengths. It's all about where your focus is. Don't deny your fear, greed or any other feelings or issues; but don't focus on them and give them your energy. We must practice where we are going to put our energy and what our focus is going to be.

[Rande Howell 10]

Thank you for your observation. Well spoken. The necessity of learning to wake up and live in an organization of the self that trades well... or lives well... is what I like about the situation that traders find themselves in. In other areas of life, it can be avoided for a lifetime. But trading provides us with a mirror, and your trading account shows you where to cut. Gotta cut dead wood, and know where to cut, to trade successfully.

Rande Howell

[Rande Howell 10]

I'm a Martin Heidegger (sorry about that spelling) fan rather than Sartre (far too depressing a way to find freedom for me). I hold that we are creating our realities in the moment of our action. Becoming aware of the forces that are "ready to hand" allows us to move beyond them and into deeper potential. This sense of being in time is what gives rise to trading in the zone.

 

Our unobserved mindset that guides our trading (the invisible hand in the example I use in the post) is the point here. She is perfectly capable of better performances. But she has to become aware of the history she was born into and taken over by before she can start building a new future.

 

Rande Howell

[TheRumpledOne 14]

Why do people make things so complicated?

 

First you must have a trading "playbook". Just like the football coaches have there playbook on the side line. They have the plays mapped out for all possible events AHEAD OF TIME.

 

Your entry rules must be in the form IF X THEN ENTER. X should be simple.

 

Example: IF the 5 Minute candle crosses and closes above the EMA(5) THEN enter long on the open of the next candle.

 

That is simple. I am sure a quick search of this forum will give you examples of overly complicated entries.

 

Your exit rules should simple, too.

 

After entry, set stop loss to entry price - 50 cents.

 

If price moves to entry + 10 cents move stop loss to entry + 5 cents.

 

If price moves to entry + 25 cents, move stop loss to entry + 15 cents.

 

If price moves to entry + 50 cents, exit 1/2 position and set trailing stop of 25 cents.

 

Now all you have to do is execute according to your play book.

 

Either you do or you don't. It is that simple.

 

You must FORCE yourself to execute the plan and STOP second-guessing - IT IS THAT SIMPLE.

 

All the rest is MUMBO JUMBO.

 

If you want to know WHY YOU LOSE AT TRADING or HOW TO WIN AT TRADING, use your favorite search engine.

[ahimsa 10]

The issue of doing what you know you shouldn't do, is not just a trading issue. It's a basic human flaw that plays itself out in every aspect of life. Typically, traders talk about the fear and greed problem. But how do we stop the fear, greed or any other emotional, or automatic response that causes a bad decision?

In order to deal with this problem in real time, we must recognize the thoughts and feelings that trigger the break down of our rational thought, and the recognition needs to be instantaneous, . . . as it is happening. Then you must intentionally go against the influences that you know are wrong. Think of what it must be like for a bird to jump out of the nest and fly for the first time. So you must intentionally step into the fear, and depend upon your strengths. It's all about where your focus is. Don't deny your fear, greed or any other feelings or issues; but don't focus on them and give them your energy. We must practice where we are going to put our energy and what our focus is going to be.

 

ya!in every aspect of life,is like to say we trade our state of soul ,emotional and all the things that turn around,i think that when we trade is automatic,feel a sense of fear,if you trade with your money!the true issue maybe is stop the trade when we recognition that...i say that because i have the bad or good habit, i don't know again. to put togheter the trade,(and all that i must learn again about it),and my personal psycho-phisic equilibrium.

when i break-down my rational tought,i have(i called so) a personal ringing bell allarm,improvvisely my phisical strenght level is less.and i have also the sensation to cry(i hate that).i know that's is a wrong feelings,and the only thing that help me in that moment,is make sport.only in this way i win against my fear.my body needed,my brain needed,my spirit needed.is my way to put out the bad energy,and take only the good.after all i can start to trade again.i have a bad way to fight my fear?

 

certenotti

[ahimsa 10]

Rande you are a teacher for us,i'don't saying that i'm a sartre fan(also i appreciated many points),his primary tought is the existensialism ,the theory that the human being is free,and he touch this topic in many aspect,from religion to politic.i'm just telling,rather that i had only a sensation.to reading his tought in your post.but come back to your concept to"invisible hand".trading in the zone is a good opportunity for learn to do a good and profitable trade,and when we have a good equilibrium ,and we can recognition immediately a break-down of our rational tought,like tradewinds says.in this moment the "invisible hand"help us like a star-light in the see.to make a gain trade.

 

bye thanks for your useful thread

 

 

(and sorry to all again if i made a error.i never will finish to learn)

 

certenotti

[Tradewinds 12]

In other areas of life, it can be avoided for a lifetime.

 

I really like the point you made about people being able to avoid their flaws in many areas of life, but we can't do that in trading. I guess it's the difference between watching the game, and playing the game. I'm not sure that everyone should play the game. I will say this though, if you want an adventure that really tests you, trading can do that.

[Rande Howell 10]

What I like about trading for the development of our humanness is that it leaves you little choice about confronting the self. This opens us to an enormous possibility of growth.

Rande Howell

[Rande Howell 10]

ya!in every aspect of life,is like to say we trade our state of soul ,emotional and all the things that turn around,i think that when we trade is automatic,feel a sense of fear,if you trade with your money!the true issue maybe is stop the trade when we recognition that...i say that because i have the bad or good habit, i don't know again. to put togheter the trade,(and all that i must learn again about it),and my personal psycho-phisic equilibrium.

when i break-down my rational tought,i have(i called so) a personal ringing bell allarm,improvvisely my phisical strenght level is less.and i have also the sensation to cry(i hate that).i know that's is a wrong feelings,and the only thing that help me in that moment,is make sport.only in this way i win against my fear.my body needed,my brain needed,my spirit needed.is my way to put out the bad energy,and take only the good.after all i can start to trade again.i have a bad way to fight my fear?

 

certenotti

 

I'm not really sure what you are saying or asking here. Can you help me understand a little better?

Rande Howell

[biko77 10]

What I like about trading for the development of our humanness is that it leaves you little choice about confronting the self. This opens us to an enormous possibility of growth.

Rande Howell

 

Awesome. That's one of the concepts I've been discussing in recent months with my good friend. To evolve as a person, you have to be able to face yourself in the mirror. I don't believe that most people can honestly face themselves in the mirror and recognize their weaknesses/areas to improve. You can spot these people because they are always pointing the finger at everybody else....even to the point of hypocrisy: calling out others for doing the same things that they themselves are guilty of. Interesting topic

[ahimsa 10]

hello rande .

I'm intervened to the tradewinds post,he talk about sense of fear,greed,and being aware when we lose a rational tought.of how this we can meet also in life not only in trading.i only explained that for me,for my little experience,when i started this path,i can noted( on my skin)that how both can live togheter.in poor words...i trade with my personal state of soul,if i have a clear e rational tought,if my brain it's free from darkness tought,i have a good trade, or more simple,if should be more able to ignore stupid and hateful people that in 2011 again lived without real concept.and the only thought that they had are mobber and basher soul ,oh my god .. sure my trade would be better .

that is why i mentioned sport ,sport and music not all music can help me to have a good phsicho-phisic equilibrium.

 

p.s. this hateful people aren't on traders laboratory(i hope).

 

 

certenotti

[Rande Howell 10]

Awesome. That's one of the concepts I've been discussing in recent months with my good friend. To evolve as a person, you have to be able to face yourself in the mirror. I don't believe that most people can honestly face themselves in the mirror and recognize their weaknesses/areas to improve. You can spot these people because they are always pointing the finger at everybody else....even to the point of hypocrisy: calling out others for doing the same things that they themselves are guilty of. Interesting topic

 

This is true. At its roots is part biology and part psychology. It takes real courage to look into the mirror and own that you are responsible for the life you are creating. It is much easier for the emotional brain to place blame outside of the self for the discomfort it experiences. And in our evolutionary past, this was a good strategy. There are no longer lions, tigers, and bears that staulk us. It is our own inner demons that we have to face. It is much easier to empower the self short term by placing blame outside of the self. Emotions are all short term driven. And men, in particular, have pushed their emotional nature aside in our socialization. It comes back to haunt us though.

 

I see this in particular when people read my book and hit the as a committee composed of a number parts of the self. Lots of guys just can't get past this. And they say lots of crazy stuff. They keep looking for anwsers that are fixes. People have been doing this for lifetimes. Didn't work then, rarely works now -- but they insist. If they want to stay stuck in the prison of their comfort zone, no one can stop them until they have found the motivation to change. Often trading forces the issue.

 

Rande Howell

URL Removed by Moderator

Edited February 9, 2011 by Mysticforex

[Rande Howell 10]

hello rande .

I'm intervened to the tradewinds post,he talk about sense of fear,greed,and being aware when we lose a rational tought.of how this we can meet also in life not only in trading.i only explained that for me,for my little experience,when i started this path,i can noted( on my skin)that how both can live togheter.in poor words...i trade with my personal state of soul,if i have a clear e rational tought,if my brain it's free from darkness tought,i have a good trade, or more simple,if should be more able to ignore stupid and hateful people that in 2011 again lived without real concept.and the only thought that they had are mobber and basher soul ,oh my god .. sure my trade would be better .

that is why i mentioned sport ,sport and music not all music can help me to have a good phsicho-phisic equilibrium.

 

p.s. this hateful people aren't on traders laboratory(i hope).

 

 

certenotti

 

I use a metaphor for the trader's mind. I invite people to see it as a committee composed of various members who have their own agendas. If we stay mindless of the forces at work in our mind, then we stay ignorant of an essential skillset to be able to build a psychology of self that experiences a deeper sense of peace and worth in the world we live. Some of the fear based aspects of the self will attempt to limit the possibility you are. Others need awakening so that the trading committee of the mind can change and the direction that the person takes in his life becomes more fruitful.

 

Mother Theresa was once asked why she practiced kindness so diligently. She responded by saying that a Hitler also lived within her. And she needed to keep that part of herself in check. Maybe not on as a dramatic of a scale, but we all have a war going on with the self. It is recognizing that it is our humanness that is at the center of this conflict. It is a struggle that you have to honor and learn from -- or it will diminish what you bring forth into the world. Trading creates a razor's edge in understanding the nature of this struggle. There is a spiritual component to trading that opens us to embracing humbleness and changing the meaning that money has for the self. If money and trading success is the test that determines you sense of worth, it will be a long ride. If money becomes a tool for something greater than the self, a whole new person can begin to emerge.

 

Rande Howell

URL Removed by Moderator

Edited February 9, 2011 by Mysticforex

[biko77 10]

This is true. At its roots is part biology and part psychology. It takes real courage to look into the mirror and own that you are responsible for the life you are creating. It is much easier for the emotional brain to place blame outside of the self for the discomfort it experiences. And in our evolutionary past, this was a good strategy. There are no longer lions, tigers, and bears that staulk us. It is our own inner demons that we have to face. It is much easier to empower the self short term by placing blame outside of the self. Emotions are all short term driven. And men, in particular, have pushed their emotional nature aside in our socialization. It comes back to haunt us though.

 

 

 

Rande Howell

URL Removed byModerator

 

Do you think it's accurate to say that many of our fears can be eliminated simply through rationale? In other words, by examining and questioning why we fear the things we do, we can expose the fears for the illusions they are? That is my basic premise, but my desire is to apply it to other areas of life

Edited February 9, 2011 by Mysticforex

[Rande Howell 10]

Do you think it's accurate to say that many of our fears can be eliminated simply through rationale? In other words, by examining and questioning why we fear the things we do, we can expose the fears for the illusions they are? That is my basic premise, but my desire is to apply it to other areas of life

 

Great question. Your premise is what Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) and Rational Emotive Therapy (RET) is based on. And I was a practitioner of the use of rational argument to rebut negative thoughts until I did Steven Stosney's training. He is one of the fathers of Emotional Intellience (EI). That's where I came to understand that thought follows emotion. The exact opposite of CBT. And cognition as a combination of belief (wired into organic substrate of brain) and thought ( a behavior that neurons do) came to be the focus of my work.

 

Fundamentally, rational (from an EI perspective) is an emotional state that, under rationalistic tradition, believes it is outside of of emotion and that humans being are rational beings. From my perspective and the neuro science of economics and markets -- nothing could be further from the truth.

 

Rationalization is even used to continue self destructive behaviors, where you convince yourself that you are being rational. If you want to change core beliefs that trigger into self limiting emotional patterns, compassion is the emotional state that changes the belief at the organic level., while rational changes at a superficial level.

 

Rational thinking, or impartiality as I call it, is an immensely important emotional state to be able to call up when trading. First you have to regulate fear. Fear will hijack rational in a heart beat.

 

Compassion is the antidote to fear, not rational thought. Rational helps us to develop what I call an observer of our thoughts -- but it is never independent. Once illusion has been exposed, the belief and emotional structure still has to be deconstructed and rebuilt. The limbic brain (or emotional brain) simply is not capable of rational thought and will hijack the rational mind. Rational is important. But it has its place. It does not sit at the head of the table. And in trading, it is the part you want to be evaluating set ups. But some sort of fear will be trying to crept into the trading committee of your mind. Better be prepared to have the courage to confront what rational discovers. And better have compassion for the child like fear that hijacks rational thought. Getting the limbic brain to distinguish between uncertainty and fear requires emotional regulation and a deliberate methodology for changing core beliefs about the self. They are the ones doing your trading.

 

Rande Howell

URL Removed by Moderator

Edited February 9, 2011 by Mysticforex