From the book “How to Expand Love” by Dalia Lama
“As a technique to identify the basic nature of the mind, first stop remembering what happened in the past, then stop thinking about what might happen in the future: let the mind flow of its own accord without the overlay of thought. Let the mind rest in its natural state and observe it for a while.”
Who knew you could find trading advice from his holiness. Stop trying to compare the present to the past and don’t try to predict the future. Trade in the now and observe yourself.
A meditation exercise from the book is as follows:
- Do not think about think about what happened in the past or what might happen in the future.
- Let the mind flow of its own accord without thought.
- Observe the mind’s nature of luminous clarity.
- Stay with this experience for a while.
I can see another application of this when you had a bad day or week on the markets. Or even if you had an amazing week and you want to try to calm yourself down so you don’t trade foolishly next week. Sometimes when you’ve been on a good run you start to feel invincible and it’s good to clear your mind and try to forget about your success. Treat the next week just as you normally would without any preconceived idea of what is going to happen and certainly avoid overconfidence at all costs. Meditation is a great way to bring yourself back into a state of balance that is essential in navigating the volatile financial world.
