Trading in the Zen style
[info_block align="right"]The markets are a reflection of you, and you are a reflection of the markets.[/info_block]
Intraday trading is an activity that is somewhat akin to a high performance sport. In particular, they are similar to the high intensity of loads during the trading day, when we are required to process and analyze huge amounts of information with maximum speed and efficiency and at the same time remain calm and dispassionate.
The Buddha will speed up your way to a million
We all know that ideally we should keep our minds sharp and clear at all times, remain as focused and disciplined as possible, and perceive objectively what is happening. After all, during the trading day it is necessary to monitor the changing situation almost every second and choose what is directly related to making trading decisions, while maintaining a truly Buddhist calm and confidence in your own actions.
However... For most traders the reality is very different from the ideal: psychological overload, constant stress, lack of confidence in themselves, their actions and decisions, constant negative internal dialogues and conflicts do not allow to act with maximum efficiency.
There is nothing. No black, no white, no sweet, no salty, no hot, no cold. There is only what we think about it...
I'm sure all of the above is very familiar to many of you. Most traders think that having developed their trading system, they will solve all their problems at once. Work will now go like clockwork, and profits will flow into their pockets like a full-flowing river. Reality very quickly brings people back from heaven to earth, and they realize that the road to mastery is the road of a lifetime.
If you have already figured this out, you have a very long and challenging road ahead of you. To help you speed your way to long-term trading success, let's look at trading from a slightly different angle than is traditionally the case.
Everything that happens to you in the marketplace is made by you
So we're getting to the heart of the matter: how can Buddhist teachings greatly benefit your trade and your life in general?
Your reality, which includes everything you perceive outside yourself, is not the result of some independently occurring process shaped by external circumstances over which you have no control. What you see around you is a reflection of what's going on inside you.
In other words, absolutely everything that surrounds you and happens to you in life (including the results of trading) was created by you. To many people this idea may seem rather unpleasant. We are so used to blaming all our troubles and life failures on anyone and anything, down to the weather conditions, just not ourselves, not our own sluggish mind and low performance. This could also be called "perpetual victim behavior.
Awareness leads to effective trading decisions
Our society has been built on this model of behavior. Sometimes we are so convinced that we are completely at the mercy of external circumstances and events that we forget the very essence of our being.
This is what Buddhism teaches. It teaches that Each of us is and should see ourselves as part of the universe, not living in that universe as a separate entity. Community, not opposition, where we have to fight all the time against an aggressive outside world and circumstances that try to subjugate us to their will. Building on this idea, you can free yourself from false conceptions and illusions that keep you in a world of subconscious inner conflict and helplessness. Overcome constant emotional tension and stress, find stability, get rid of psychological discomfort in the process of trading. But the main task is to sort yourself out.
It is awareness that leads to more effective decisions. Without it, you are constantly going against your inner nature, continually resisting everything around you. This struggle causes you pain and suffering that could have been avoided if you had only understood yourself better, and is psychologically and physically exhausting. It took me quite a few years to understand this myself, and then to put this idea into practice, turning it into a formula in its own right that can improve not only commerce, but the quality of life in general. From these considerations my own working methodology was born.
Buddhism teaches us to understand our true nature. It teaches us how we create our outer reality from within. It teaches us the art of mindfulness through self-observation. Buddhism teaches us how we can discover the invisible but eternal and absolute truths of the world by becoming quietly still and mentally withdrawn.
Can all this help you improve your trading?
[info_block align="right" linkText="8 market stereotypes that are no longer working" linkUrl="https://mr-trader.com/forex-for-beginers/forex-start/8-stereotipov-rynka-forek-kotorye-davno-ne-rabotayut" imageUrl="https://files.fortrader.org/uploads/2017/04/trader-730×371.jpg"]8 common trader actions that are no longer working, causing shock to speculators. What it's already time to give up so you can keep making money.[/info_block]
Yes. Traditionally, trading was considered a linearly consistent activity. The idea of strict discipline and rigid rules no matter what was the key to success in trading. Emotions - is the enemy of an effective trader, who must work as a soulless machine.
However, there are two small problems with this approach:
- Nothing in the universe operates linearly. There is one law that underlies reality, and that is the law of infinite possibilities. Strictly speaking, there are no laws in the universe. We are the ones who make the laws of the universe.
- We accept our learned behaviors and thinking patterns as realityWe are not just a part of ourselves, but a part of ourselves that is still free and open to all possibilities and changes. This is our true essence and true inner core. Most traders have no idea how to find this part of themselves that is deeply hidden under the thickness of established stereotypes.
And this leads me to another important point directly related to point 2:
Emotions - The most important part of the human energy matrix. However, they need to be understood, and this requires us to be able to distinguish our conditioned emotional reactions from freely arising impulses that do not have our assigned content.
Buddhism teaches us to see, realize and accept the world as it is
When the shackles of illusion fall away, not only will you be able to see much more, but you will also become much more stable internally. You will be able to perceive market fluctuations in a detached way, as if separating from the market, taking a step back, without being emotionally involved in the trading process, reacting calmly to what is happening. The mind will become clear.
Learning to abstract away from what is happening in the market is the foundation of professionalism, and it's worth your effort. When you stop identifying yourself with the results of your profession and realize that the results of your trading, whether good or bad, have nothing to do with your true self, but are just a mirror reflecting the stereotypes of your worldview, you will gain freedom. Why would you do that? Because if you do, you will be able to change your world map. It is artificial and malleable, we have created it ourselves.
Will it save you from losses and failures? No. Mistakes are part not only of trading, but of life in general. However, the ability to live outside of rigid principles has allowed me personally to find my own way in life and react to everything going on around me in a much calmer and more detached way.
The markets are a reflection of you, and you are a reflection of the markets. It is important to learn to see in this reflection what is really happening, not what we want or expect. Not to evaluate the market, but to take what is happening as a given, to stop fighting with it and opposing it. To move with it in the same rhythm.
In my opinion, this is the greatest benefit that traders derive not only from immersion in the study of Buddhist wisdom, but, above all, from understanding themselves. Their emotions, their reactions, their behavior during trading and not only. Buddhism is simply one path to mindfulness. Are you ready to learn how to perceive things calmly, detachedly, and without evaluation?