The power of the law of attraction

[TinGull]

I just wanted to post this up today, because I've been working hard at trying to incorporate this into my life. The guys who talk to me on a regular basis know that I can sometimes get a little "down" sometimes with regards to my trading...but I really know I can make it happen.

So...yesterday, I tried something. In the movie "The Secret" there's a guy who says he uses the law of attraction to get a parking spot when the lot seems full. At my library they just rebuilt, they have a big parking garage that holds like 150 cars. The lot was full when I went down there yesterday with my girlfriend. I said first...man, we'll never find a spot! Then...I caught myself. I said...there'll be a spot that'll open up for me in no time.

So...as I turned the corner...a Subaru was pulling out of it's spot right next to the door! Amazing.

Today...I was short YM at 264 and we hovered around 251-259 for a couple minutes. Got tedious...and I thought, don't take out my stop! Then...I caught myself. I said...let's see 250. If we break this 251, we'll go lower! I stared at 250 on my screen, filled my head with 250...and we broke to it, and through it to 230 and I let my order go at 234 for a 30 point gain, my best point gain on a single trade ever.

I'm hooked. I just need to get to a point where I'm not needing to catch my thinking, but always just be thinking and feeling like that.

Amazing.

[notouch]

Check out my thread "Positive thinking v wishful thinking" I posted a while back. Positive thinking is great but you can't control the market with your mind.

[Nick1984]

Well have you noticed how some people just always seem to be more "lucky" than others, and those others are the ones who usually sit there moping about how "lucky" that other guy is? Those other guys are always loosers. Negative energy attracts negative energy. The power of positive thinking is very real. Do you honestly believe some people are just naturally more lucky than others? Thats BS imho. I don't believe in luck. We create our own luck. Its about having the self confidence within yourself to look at any situation and make the best of it. Courage of conviction in other words.

[TinGull]

yup, precisely. Luck is where preparation meets opportunity. Nothing magical about it. If you're prepared to see the opportunity, then you need to take it. Power of positive thinking is absolutely real.

[notouch]

It's real in that if you start your trading day thinking "Today I'm going to hit my profit target" then you're more likely to because you have control over your trading decisions and if you think you'll make the right decisions, you're more likely to. But it's just silly to think that once you have a trade open you can control what direction the market moves in with the power of your mind. We have no control over the market, only over our own decisions.

[TinGull]

You're right notouch. I dont think I can move the market with my mind. What I won't let happen is: if a move goes against me I get pissed.

There's no point in letting something disturb ones day on the path to success.

[keymoo]

I've spent much time looking into The Secret, What the Bleep, NLP, quantum physics, etc. The reason why you are where you are right now is because of the fruits of your actions in the past. I really do not believe that you can influence the external world directly through thought alone. It is absurd and no-one has proved it. I was very open to the idea for many years, however, recently I find myself becoming more sceptical through lack of proof, and my own experience does not bear it out.

Now, this is very different to being determined in something. Myself, I am determined to become consistently profitable in trading. I will not achieve this through thinking alone; however repetition of this thought process will produce ACTIONS that I take such as: in-depth market research, statistics gathering, reporting of my own trades, receiving coaching from a professional trader, managing risk, money management, understanding my own psychology, etc.

The car park example you gave is ridiculous. After watching The Secret myself, I believed it for a while and thought that I could influence a multi-story car park, the actions of the drivers of those cars with my own thoughts. How ridiculous is that? Now, what I have noticed about the behaviour of my own mind is that if I want to see an outcome I can project onto the world the outcome I want to see, and ignore or filter out the stuff I don't want to see or notice. So that ONE TIME that you manage to get a parking space, you say, "Wow, this is amazing." and at the same time you forget the 99 times that this visualisation technique did not work. This mostly occurs at the sub-conscious level, of course and is not often verbalised in the mind.

I do believe that the way you think produces who you are right now (you reap what you sow), so in some sense positive thinking, as it were, does work, but it only works on you, not the external world. The Secret even says this, you cannot create in someone else's reality, so the movie even contradicts itself with its own examples. One motto I do believe in strongly is

Luck favours the prepared mind.

So, in your trading, you will become successful through preparation and ACTION, not just by thinking; but the thinking can be a catalyst or a motivator for your actions.

Sorry to dampen your spirit Tin, and this is my own view, so take it with a pinch of salt.

[TinGull]

It's all good keymoo, everyone's allowed to believe what they want to

[TheBramble]

Keymoo, interesting comments. If the "car park" exercise involves ‘magically’ manifesting a parking space by some manner of voodoo, there is a rational explanation for the improved probability of you finding a space. It’s all to do with your old brain and the reticular formation, that which arouses and motivates us. The thing is, the parking space is either going to be there or it’s not (no schroedingers cats here). But if you are ACTIVELY engaged in looking for one, guess what, you’re more likely to find it than if your just cranking up the volume on Snow Patrol or thinking about what you’re going to do once you’ve parked. It’s all about ACTIVE AWARENESS. You can do it with anything you choose.

Just pick a colour, any colour. Make it unusual. When you’re next out and about look for someone wearing that colour, or a car of that colour, anything of that colour. I can guarantee you WILL find it. It’s all always there, but you’re not normally ACTIVELY tuned into be aware of it. There is a great deal to discuss about Awareness.

The other point you make keymoo is about ACTION. I disagree slightly with you in that all the preparation and analysis and all those other good things you mention, although useful and even vital to your skills as a trader do not in and of themselves lead you to becoming a trader. You need to take ACTION independently of all those other things, you need to pull the trigger. It is just possible that all those other things you mention could end up robbing you of the power to actually take physical action if you believe you are doing so by doing those other things.

I keep an open mind on the power of thought and the ‘laws’ of attraction so don’t put me into one camp or the other.

[keymoo]

MrBramble, you are talking about something quite different. Heightening your awareness is an action that has been taken - you have not directly affected the quantum field, or somehow magically manifested something in the universe. You are merely observing what is there through "tuning your mind in." as you put it.

I recently bought a new mini car. My kids love it as it has a soft top - now whenever they are out they always notice all the minis on the road, whilst before they did not notice any of them. They particularly notice the red soft-tops for some reason ;-). They have tuned into all the minis out there; however this is a different and separate issue to the one that TinGull is inferring.

TinGull is referring to manifestation of circumstances in the universe, not merely observing them. However I do agree that these two can APPEAR to be blurred together, however I do not believe that is the case. Heightened awareness is a very different thing to manifesting things with the power of thought.