Laughter

After starting to trade full-time about 8 years ago, I went through many years of frustrating failures in trying to make a profit at this job. Every time that the market went against me, which was often, I would yell, kick the walls, and just get angry.

Several years ago, I found myself becoming less angry when I would make amateurish mistakes, and instead found myself laughing at what I did wrong. I even did this after losing a great deal of money by holding on to my losses too long. I then realized that I felt better after laughing about these failures, and was able to return to the markets with a fresh and creative view of my trading and the market dynamics. Laughing actually helped me to view my failures as opportunities to learn and creatively look at new trading techniques to eliminate my mistakes.

I was reminded of this while reading Chapter 8 of "A Whole New Mind" by Daniel H. Pink. It talks about Dr. Madan Kataria, a physician in Mumbai, India and author of "Laugh for No Reason" and featured at the Laughter Yoga International web site, who started a Laughing Club in 1995. This group of people meet in the morning and perform a type of laughing yoga, where the mind is cleared and people laugh and be joyful for no special reason other than to be "mind healthy". It is found that laughing reduces stress and promotes creativity and productivity.

So do what I have been doing for several years when the market goes against you - LAUGH! It will help to clear your mind and see your trading techniques and the market in a new creative way.

Charles