New coaching clients often ask me to explain why I place so much importance on spirituality when all they want to do is to improve their trading results. Typically traders think when they have challenges with trading consistency they need to work harder at their many shortcomings. Well, we all know what those are, don’t we? There is overtrading,
Anger over losses, the fear of not making the losses back, hesitation, inability to recognise one’s trading set ups, trading too big, trading too small, the list goes on.
Here is the thing: If your willingness to work on your trading where a measure of your trading success, most of you probably wouldn’t have any trading challenges. I am sure that most of you are working hard at improving your trading techniques.
The one thing traders have a really tough time to understand is this: Working on your trading challenges alone doesn’t address the core of the issue.
I was no different from other traders when I first started out trading in 2001. For years I worked on my trading style and still wouldn’t make money. In fact, now some 14 year later my basic style has not changed that much. True, it got refined, but the essence of my very simple trading methodology has not changed.
The one thing that is very different though is how I see myself.
This is precisely where spiritual inquiry comes in:
Why? Because the image we have of ourselves is down right false and incorrect. Imagine looking at yourself in a mirror: What do you see? You see your face of course, and perhaps even your entire body. However, what you are probably missing is that you are seeing yourself with the sides reversed: Left is right and right is left. Then there is the actual mirror itself: The colour reflection is never a 100% true reflection of you and there is always a degree of distortion, not visible to the conscious mind. In other words: You have never really seen yourself for who you truly are.
You see a dense energy mass in the mirror that makes up an image of you. Yet, do you see the aura, do you see the trillions of energy particles that are the building blocks of you? Do you notice the many energy lines going from you to other object around you? Do you notice how, what you consider to be your solid body, constantly flicks in and out of existence? The answer is probably “no”. There is nothing solid, dense or separate about you. What you see is a phantom, a mirage, an illusion. Yet you are basing all your decisions on the assumption that the mirage is real.
It is safe to say that you actually have no idea of your true nature, nor your abilities, let alone your connection to source, God, creation, whatever you want to call it.
It also fair to assume that most of you have never really looked, because you didn’t know where to start looking. It is hard charting a course when you don’t know from where you are starting. I do sincerely hope that by now you can see how this false perceptions are leading you to take steps in the wrong order of priority. No wonder that we are struggling with (trading) life.
You believe that you have to work hard to achieve anything ion life. You believe that you have many faults, and that you need to prove your worth at every step along the way.
Since you are so imperfect, whenever you do not live up to that ideal of perfection, which we call “standards” you get punished.
In a nutshell, you, the cosmos and creation are conspiring to work against each other. You believe that you were here to struggle to survive and make ends meet. This world view of course is absurd, and yet most of you make pretty much every decision based on this idea.
In order to open you up to this flawed view we have to go deep into reality creation. No, we do not need to dig into why you have put on that same impulse trade for the 5th time in two days. Instead we need to delve into your entitlement as a human being. We need to open you up to your connection to source.
I know you have heard all the above before. But have you acted on it?
The answer is “no”. If you had your trading life would be very different by now. Your biggest challenge by far is not just trying something different, but doing it with a willingness to keep going, to keep learning until something clicks into place. If you do this, I can promise you that your life will change. There will always be trading challenges, but you will meet them differently, with more grace, ease and above all with the trust that that which you are seeking is also seeking you.
Learn to communicate in the subtle language of the universe of creation. The universe and creation together contain you. The integration of this inner knowing is the real ticket to lasting trading success. It begins with the pursuit of spiritual inquiry and the discovery of your ability to access your infinite potential. You won’t find the answer by looking at yourself in the mirror.
In the course of my trading career I met with many a challenge which I met by delving deep into the nature of reality and studied universal law. It took many many, many years to learn how to apply this to my trading.
In the process I became aware of my spirituality of which Buddhism is just one aspect, since it teaches us the nature of reality. Buddhism teaches us universal law. When you understand the true nature of your reality your life begins to change. Let me explain why this is so: Life is not about achievements, that is one of life’s biggest misconceptions. Whether you trade, invest or are in any other profession. Life is about one thing only: That thing is learning to raise energy.
