Lost Coin Class Notes
Salt Lake City
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
 
 
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DS:
   I wanted to focus on stuff that relates to my last post on the blog.
 
   Would you sit a half hour, do kinhin, then discuss my post?
   
   Ed Seykota has a video on Youtube.  He wrote a song about his philosophy of trading.  He has a bunch of bluegrass players and he plays the banjo himself.
 
   So, how do you look at yourself?
 
   With sitting, you are learning that you are not your thoughts.  If you think that you are your thoughts, you'll never change anything.
 
   Ed Seykota, he sees a lot of trades and 97% lose.  97% "bust" (they lose all of their money) within the first year.  He says that it's because they are unwilling to transform.
 
   Most of us as willing to transform.  We read books, etc., but are unwilling to transform.
 
   Part of the discussion tonight: What things do you do that you could do a new way?  What things are not working that you could do a different way?
 
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Student:
   I've got a question.
 
   That sounds like the classic story of the guy who has tea with his master and the master keeps pouring tea until it overflows.
 
   So this reminded me of meditation.  What they found was that for meditators is that what you are experiencing is not as linked to your story.
 
   So the only way to realize that your cup is full is to do meditation.
 
DS:
   Let me explain in trader terms:
 
   If a trade is a 7 (enneagram), then they'll try to trade too much, in too many markets.
 
   If I'm their teacher, I say to them that they can't know that many markets so well.  So focus on one market and learn it and trade in that market.
 
   So, with your interest in the enneagram, a 4 or 5 or 7 doesn't see that -- they see it as the way things are.
 
   In sitting, we learn to not take our thoughts so seriously.
 
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Student:
   Isn't Buddhism about accepting what is?
 
DS:
   Not in trading.  You are looking for certain outcomes.
 
   "What is" is that you want certain things
 
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DS:
   I should go soon.  Let me leave you with another thought by Ed Seykota.  He has a master's degree from MIT.  He did this back when computers used punch cards.  He started with $1000 now has $22M.
 
   He was asked: "What does it take to become a good trader?"
 
   He said: "It has to be what you want to do.  If you like to trade, trade.  If you don't, do something else."
 
   Don't follow your passions.  Follow your inclinations.
 
   Personally, I love growing and learning.
 
   So bring the practice into your daily life and grow and learn.
   
<end of Skype>
 
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Student:
   At work, I get stressed because I don't do my notes.  But this year, I'm going to do so.
 
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Student:
   I think that I've noticed that I react emotionally to everything.  I waste a lot of energy by these emotional reactions.
 
   Just watching B not react, I think there's a happy medium.
 
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Student:
   My problem is thinking.  My response is always thinking.
 
   I've been dealing with a shoulder problem and have been working with a PT.  A lot of the tension is mental.  He's trying to help me decouple.
 
   I think that I'm overly sensitive.
 
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Student:
   It's just patterns and the notion that you can change them and the effort it takes.
 
   Maybe it's the Nike thing: Just Do It.
   
   The last couple of Saturdays, I've been hiking a little further.
 
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Student:
   For me, I've had to make a change to become more fluid and flexible.  I'm very rigid...I can get things done.  I'm structured.  You do the same thing every morning, and then you plan your week.  But now my work is different and it doesn't allow control over my time.  How do I deal with that?
 
   I'm training for a marathon. I need to put in so many miles per week.  I'll just have to fit it in.  I don't like that because I'm so regimented.
 
   I don't like the "fluid and flexible". I'm task-oriented.