YOUR MOST PRECIOUS COMMODITY
YOUR MOST PRECIOUS COMMODITY
Time is the substance from which I am made. Time is a river which carries me along, but I am the river; it is a tiger that devours me, but I am the tiger; it is a fire that consumes me, but I am the fire…Jorge Louis Borges, Argentine author,1899-1997, “Lost Illusions”
The majority of human beings conduct themselves as if they intend to live forever. In essence, there is no systematic or productive review of the past, no real or meaningful planning for the future and minimal learning from the present.
Sigmund Freud believed that the unconscious mind had no notion of time, and that our deepest needs and wants remained, for the most part, unchanged throughout life. When you think about this, it is a compelling confirmation of the saying that most people lead lives of quiet desperation and die with their song still inside of them. They don’t take time or effort to find out the words or lyrics to their song, let alone try to sing it.
Crowd or mass behavior is even more primitive and impulsive than that of any one individual, since crowds tend to pay less attention to time. An individual alone can at least be aware of time, especially, when feeling lonely or longing. In a crowd situation, there is only the moment and there is no limitation on time. It is as if whatever is happening can and will go on forever (Party like there's no tomorrow!). Eventually, the music stops. However, crowds, in the heat of the moment, have little perception of time or limitations.
Gustave LeBon, the French philosopher and politician described in “The Crowd” a collective mind-set that is completely different from what that individual would feel, think or do in isolation. Freud believed that attitudes toward group leaders stemmed from childhood feelings toward ones parents–some combination of trust, fear, desire for approval and imminent rebellion. Group-think of this type can be regressive and infantile to the extreme. This is part of what manifests, on a larger scale, as panic buying and panic selling in the financial markets.
Mass mentality is magnified in real-time virtual stock trading rooms and in large crowds. The perceived necessity is to be part of this crowd by saying something that the individual believes to be clever, insightful or original so that one is not invisible, but makes one’s presence felt. This type of behavior can, if not modulated and regulated, go on for very long periods of time (since crowds have no real time perception) and result in escalating behaviors as various members of the crowd struggle for dominance or simply to be heard, seen or recognized. It is noise and more noise. In order to be recognized as part of the group, individuals may resort to verbal or physical behaviors which would not be recognizable to those who know them apart from the crowd situation.
In the case of a “virtual” crowd, such as a trading room, the verbal exchanges can take on even greater intensity, since one is (for all intents and purposes) anonymous in cyberspace. The primitive, aggressive portions of the brain overpower the newer, more developed areas of the brain, often in ways which even the individual does not believe. How many times have you heard someone say, or seen someone type “Did I really just say that?” The individual is in disbelief that he or she allowed and could not control primitive limbic impulses and deep-seated drives. “OMG…sorry, I didn’t really mean that…or..I can’t really be saying that, can I? Or “What was I thinking” or “Oops, I slipped! LOL.” The use of emoticons and music further cloud, deceive and add even more cacophony and tachistoscopy.
Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day.
You fritter and waste the hours in an offhand way.
Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town---
Waiting for someone or something to show you the way... from Pink Floyd. "Time", Dark Side Of The Moon
This situation is exacerbated further by the exabytes of information, disinformation, disambiguation, misinformation, trivia and media verbiage that assault our brain,, body and spirit every day. With few exceptions, this is deception, smoke and mirrors. The rat brain (paleocortex or old brain) is designed for flight or fright and is attuned constantly to the possibility of attack. This accounts for high levels of paranoia and vigilance about many types of deception that are perpetrated on a daily basis in the financial markets and the lame stream media. The rat brain reacts with the full emotional litany of fear, greed, delight, anger, retribution, sarcasm, pride, lust, regret, loving and loathing. The new brain ( neocortex) filters the information, makes a logical decision about its importance and then responds. Sometimes, the best response is to do nothing. Successful and centered human beings know when to react and when to respond and are acutely aware of the difference between reacting and responding. Successful human beings have learned to make the old brain and the new brain work in harmony and flow, rather than battling continually with each other. Master traders train their brains for success by training themselves for whole brain trading. This way, both the right and left hemispheres are acting together to produce optimal uptake of oxygen, glucose and neurotransmitters as they communicate with each other in harmony. With constant practice, the brain is actually able to "rewire" itself into an awesome tool for both trading and living your best life ever!
The windmills of your mind are simply never ending or beginning on an ever-spinning reel. The brain is a “time machine,” assert Duke University neuroscientists Catalin Buhusi and Warren Meck. Because ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny, people repeat behaviors and cycles repeat. There are cycles of weather, the moon, politics, commodities, , stocks, art, design, fashion, food, politics-- and just about anything that you can imagine. Unfortunately, the majority of people are unable to recognize these cycles because they are blinded by light of noise. It is only when we are able to separate from the noise that they achieve the clarity of mind to recognize cycles and cycle changes.
A ton of stuff has happened since 1452. The markets, media and life have become more complex, global and democratized. The herd mentality is at work, but on a much larger and highly magnified scale. Deception is more subtle and sophisticated. Time seems compressed and the pace more frenetic. It is as if the logarithmically- accelerating rate of change of technology is permeating our minds and bodies in such a way that everything is urgent, breaking news, want it now, get in and get out quickly, take the profits and run. Is time all we really have so we must grab for all the gusto and goodies now--quickly, furtively-- and then start looking immediately, frantically for the next big win? It is not without coincidence that frenetic is synonymous with inflammation which underlies a huge number of human diseases, many of which fall under the general rubric of “stress.” The toll on wellness and health is enormous, since stress debilitates and kills.
Accelerating change aside, human emotions have not changed. Greed and fear (examined in an entirely new light here: http://www.thetradingdoctornewsletter.com/video/jan07/index.html) are the same now as they have been from the dawn of civilization. Those who win consistently more than they lose have learned to self-regulate the forces of greed and fear. They have trained themselves to harness and respect the power of numbers. They have learned that time takes time, and they stay with people, places and things that are working. They cut losses in all aspects of life very quickly. They allow time, price and pattern to play out.
Successful people have learned to filter, modulate and use whole brain thinking to their advantage. They realize that when the time is up, it is up and they are able to get out and get ready for the next opportunity. They know that time is on their side, and they are prepared for it. From a place of relative calm, stillness and centering, they open themselves to receive and act on the messages that their whole brain time machine is telling them.
Time is nature’s way of keeping everything from happening at once…Howard Hoffman
Until next TIME,
Good Trading and Brain On!
Janice Dorn, M.D., Ph.D.
www.thetradingdoctor.com
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