|
|
|||
 |
Ed Seykota's FAQ |
| Home | Send Mail to FAQ | Resources | Ground Rules | FAQ Index |
 |
|
| Photo by Neil Cody, Bastrop TX 2014-06-13 |
|
FAQ June 11-20, 2014 <-- back | down | forward --> |
| Contributors Say | Ed Says | |||||||||
Jun 20, 2014 I wonder about the positive intention of the pain of a broken heart. Perhaps it shows me the depth of my investment, and helps me to be clear about what I want, even though I do not receive it. The pain is part of my intense, real experience of life; it shows me how great the reward could be ... just not this time. I wonder if you could share your feelings about heartbreak. Sincerely, |
Thank you for raising this issue. You might consider taking your feelings about <heartbreak> to Tribe.
|
|||||||||
Jun 20, 2014 I want to respond to the Tribe member who has thoughts of "This is BS" during a Rocks Process role- play. I remember having a similar thought during a role-play in which Hotseat as a child tells his alcoholic father how he feels when the father fails to pick him up as promised. I bring up my thought in the processing after the role-play is complete, saying I think it is unrealistic to believe that the father would really change his ways no matter what the child said to him. The Tribe helps me to see that it is the programming in Hotseat that is changed by the role-play; perhaps he will not shut down and say nothing the next time someone disappoints him. People often say, "You can't change the past", which is true. However, the past lives on every day in the present, in ways so subtle we think, "That's just the way I AM". The Rocks Process seems to re-route those neural and behavioral pathways in ways that endless talking "about" the problem can never do. Sincerely, |
Thank you for sharing your insights. | |||||||||
Jun 20, 2014 I just finished reading your book The Trading Tribe. I enjoyed the book a lot and I would like to experience this process. I live in Beverly Hills, CA and I wanted to know where I can find a Trading Tribe close to where I live? Thanks, |
Thank you for your inquiry. |
|||||||||
Jun 20, 2014 |
Thank you for raising this issue. In general, forms of fear such as insecurity, anxiety, inform us about danger. We can: 1. Medicate these feelings with drugs, alcohol and drama to make them go away. 2. Pro-actively deal with the underlying issue, which may have to do with bringing risk in balance with assets.
|
|||||||||
Jun 20, 2014 Ed, I wanted to reply to one comment you mentioned in your conclusion, you mentioned that "I don't know where you expect to find any clients willing to sit through a 4-2/3 year drawdown." My goal in writing Buy and Hope was not to "get clients", in fact our strategy at [Firm] is quite different than the one presented in the book, actually providing a significantly higher MAR and much lower DD period. But that is not the point. I wrote the book on a personal level unrelated to [Firm]. My goal in writing the book was to provide a significantly safer alternative to investing in the stock market. As Jack Schwager pointed out, it is a strategy designed for ordinary investors. The book provides a regular investor some very simple tools (taking only 1 minute-a-week) that will clearly protect them, substantially lowering their risk while outperforming the market. I think we would all agree that having a 12.46% CAGR while maintaining a 0.4 MAR is an impressive feat in itself, but … doing this while only spending 1 minute-a-week is simply unheard of considering most full-time financial advisors cannot achieve that. I agree that a simple Donchian system has the potential to lower risk levels, but that was not the intention of the book, since that would require a significantly higher time and knowledge commitment by the investor. I wanted to provide a simple technique so that 'regular' non-investment professionals could take charge of their investments quickly, and then go on with their regular lives pursuing their passions outside of the financial world. I hope I was able to achieve that goal. Thank you again for your help on this. I REALLY appreciate all the energy you and your colleague put into this! With kind regards, |
Thank you for amplifying, extending and clarifying your position. | |||||||||
Jun 20, 2014 Hello Ed, I got so excited to see that you personally responded to my inquiry. Thank you. Count me in for the next workshop. In preparation for the workshop; I ordered "Govopoly" and I am going through everything on the TTP list. Can you recommend anything else I can do to be more prepared? Is there a software program I should have? Thank you and I really look forward to meeting you. PS: I love your song "Whipsaw" what fun! It's great that all the band members get to sing too. I am curious, are all the band members trend traders as well? One more comment; your disclaimers are so funny they made me laugh so much that my face hurts! Sincerely yours, |
Thank you for your support. I plan to present a TTP Workshop later this year, likely in Puerto Rico. Watch FAQ for details. |
|||||||||
Jun 20, 2014 I see The Essentials, here: http://www.seykota.com/tribe/essentials/card.htm I have a question about 'Manage Risk' and 'Use Stops'. The primary way I manage risk is to use stops, aka 'Stop on Quote' or 'Stop Loss' orders (for exits) on equity instruments. I wonder what you mean by 'Use Stops', since it seems redundant after 'Manage Risk'. I suspect 'Use Stops' is listed in The Essentials as guidance regarding how to initiate (or add to) a position. I am not sure if I am right about this and I am asking for more detail regarding 'Use Stops', specifically beyond use of stops to "Manage Risk". |
Thank you for raising this issue.
|
|||||||||
June 20, 2014 I would like to learn how to trade the markets. Before I waste much of your time can you suggest reading material or something to help me along the way. If I spoke to you now I would be lost. I am tired of being poor. My family's perspective on being financially secure, is if you weren't born with you'll never have it. Hope to hear from you, |
Thank you for raising this issue. You might consider taking your feelings about <never getting it> to Tribe as an entry point.
|
|||||||||
| Jun 20, 2014
Reading Materials Thank you for reaching out. |
These days I read a lot of e-mails, computer code, instruction manuals - and some books. | |||||||||
Jun 19, 2014 The meeting starts off with a member bringing up an issue about his family's approach to religion. I feel a connection between this member because my family is religious and I have agnostic practices similar to this member. For some reason though I do not share his problem. Another member brings up a struggle he is having with judging feelings. He especially judges the "I don't know" feeling. I notice that he tries to do things that feel "good" while, as a group, we try and take him to the critical point of the rocks process. We do a few processes around sharing feelings. This evolves into a true practice session which I really enjoy. I sometimes feel I am beating people over the head with TTP. I have to remember that acceptance of others, regardless of their behavior, is a tenant central to TTP. I also enjoy the tribe leader's analogy of walking on rice paper when you communicate using TTP. We end the night with a rocks process. The Hotseat is dealing with some general malaise. His pattern is that rushed decisions have created periods of emotion for the Hotseat in the past. We work the rocks process and discover that the Hotseat has trouble sharing feelings with his father. The role play is a recreation of the Hotseat's father bullying him into eating an oyster. |
Thank you for sharing your process and for documenting the meeting.
|
|||||||||
Jun 19, 2014 Thanks Ed, (for permission to re-print) Best wishes, |
Thank you for your support. I wonder how you feel about the central banking system.
|
|||||||||
Jun 19 , 2014
Hello, I am interested to attend the next workshop with Ed Seykota. Can you kindly let me know the next date. Thank you, |
Thank you for asking about attending a TTP Workshop. |
|||||||||
Jun 19, 2014 |
Thank you for sharing your feelings. | |||||||||
Jun 18, 2014 Ed, "Researchers from MIT have also been analyzing the virtues of the Brazuca's rougher surface. It is believed that this move away from progressively smoother match balls will counter a little-known phenomenon called the Magnus Effect. This aerodynamic quirk causes a very smooth ball such as the Jabulani to bend in the opposite direction compared to a rougher ball struck by the same individual." http://www.gizmag.com/brazuca-world-cup-football-aerodynamics-nasa-mit-jabulani/32582/ |
Thank you for sending me the video. | |||||||||
Jun 17, 2014 I check in several issue. One issue is I notice that when trying to apply sharing feeling skills in daily life, many times I am one step behind. For example, once in the church pre-school, the priest comes to shake hands with me. My hand is a little wet with pizza and I hesitate a little. He seems to be assertive or even know about it for everybody is eating pizza. Then we shake hands. One second later I realize a better TTP way for me to handle this is just to speak it out "I want to shake hands with you but I feel embarrassed for my hand is wet". I didn't do it and actually shut down at that moment. Ed points out that it comes from my unwillingness to experience that feeling. I keep thinking about this for it sounds a traditional TTP concept. And I start to realize that by slowing down and be more willing to taste that feeling, I could unlock myself to be able apply the sharing feeling in real time. It's something I want more practice in tribe meetings. Another issue is that my wife refuses to share feeling with me. Many times if I ask her how she feels, she would tell me "Stop using your TTP tricks on me." Yesterday I tell her I feel a little nervous and some tension on my chest, she immediately cut me off and yells at me "don't share your negative feeling with me. I have been unhappy for all days myself and I don't want to hear any of your negative feelings." I feel hurt and I don't dare to say I feel hurt. Sometimes I share feeling with my son or show him how to do it, and my wife would come to tell my son "it doesn't work!". Sometimes in occasions when I listen to or ask about feelings of my son's friend or my own friends, my wife would come and tells me don't practice your TTP on them. I feel embarrassed and being annoyed. Recent year I start to feel I am growing and she is refusing to grow. I feel leaving her behind and I want to share feelings with her. Sometimes she shows interests in what we are doing in the Tribe and even volunteer to join some of our meetings, some other times she would not. I am not trying to grab her into the tribe, for I know it doesn't work. I can accept. But I can't accept we don't share feelings with each other. I want to work on this in the Tribe meeting. One member volunteers the role of my wife. When I ask her how she feels, she immediately ask me to stop using TTP to her. I immediately feel all the above feelings. I start to blame her not wanting to share feelings and not willing to grow. I point my finger to the wife and say that she is setting a bad example to the children. I argue with her that the TTP works and it's the best way to build rapport. And Ed and the tribe laughs. For they all notice I am acting out my drama and feel good about it. I feel relief to let it out for I have been judging her for a while. Ed asks me whether I ask her if she is willing to share feeling. I go blank and realize I don't test for willingness. The Tribe start to laugh and I realize that how funny I am by forcing her to share feeling. Ed says I am like a man use a whip and beat another person, "tell me how you feel". I feel funny. I start to see that the TTP doesn't work by forcing somebody to share feeling. Then Ed shows me how to share feeling by not asking for share feeling. and I start to repeat what he says. "I want to be close to you. I don't know how to do it so try to use TTP. Obviously TTP is not working for us. I want to know how I can be close to you?" Ed says to build rapport with one person, I need to know what she wants, get involve in what she wants to do. I need to be gentle, as careful as walking on a rice paper. And suddenly it becomes simple and clear to me and I just need to remove the entire TTP stuff between us. I am wrinkling the rice paper if I ask her to share feelings when she doesn't want to. I feel relief at this point. TTP works when it disappears. I tell Ed I want to practice role play more. Ed tells me to ask if the member is willing to role play more. I do so and the member agrees. Then I practice again to share my feeling of wanting to be close by not asking for share feelings. At the end of the process, I feel I manage to drop a huge baggage of wanting my wife to grow with me and accept the way she is. My wife's birthday is coming soon. She wants to have a get away. I once tell her I can't stand one day without my children around. She gets mad. Ed then helps me to practice how to communicate this. "I want to make a good birthday for you and I am afraid I am going to miss the children." Now I clearly see that to build rapport, I need to know what she really want and do my best to help her to get what she wants. I then release the Tribe member from the role and thank his kind help. It's a eye opening process for I realize how rough I am when relating to others. To build rapport with others, I definitely need to change my ways. Be gentle, fully attentive like walking on a rice paper. This is the right attitude to build rapport. And I realize this is exactly the same attitude when starting a new trade. Trades I make in a casual, confident way are most losers, and many walking-on-the rice-paper trades tend to do well. I also tell Ed that when I translate the "Thank you for telling me you feelings" in my mother languages, it doesn't sound sincere. For in the culture I come from, people don't say thanks that often. It feels unnatural to say thanks. So Ed asks me to think of other words in my mother language which sounds more naturally as the acknowledgement when somebody shares his feeling. In the next process, one member wants to park his car in the garage, but his wife fills all the 5 garages with old stuffs. We role play this situation. One member volunteers to role play the wife. The client walks into the garage and the wife is cleaning the floor. The client tells the wife he is feeling worried about his car parking out side. He then list several reasons he needs to move cars into the garage and reasons that his wife should throw away some of the stuffs. The wife just says no. Ed points out that the client is making a case here instead of connecting feelings. I notice that at the start of the process the client makes an effort to start sharing his worries and then falls back to control centric reasoning talking. I also feels some strong feelings when the wife simply and quietly says No. I feel the hardness to turn around the situation. It feels impossible for me. I then know myself share some rocks there when facing the hard rejection, which disables me from improving this situation. I feel grateful the member brings up this issue to the meeting so I can also have a chance to learn and improve. Then they role play again. The client offers to bring his wife a cup of tea and then shares his concerns about his car parking outside. He also ask if the wife is willing to reorganize the garage and clear a space for the car. The wife agrees. When check out this process, the client reports that when he brings rapport he feel different relating to his wife. He does something new, offering a tea, reorganize instead of asking her to throw away her stuffs. This helps him get what he wants. In the next process, one member is thinking of moving to another place to save on tax. To be able to do that for this tax year, he needs to buy a property and be a residence there. He has only couple weeks left to buy a home. He feel some kind of pressure. Tribe helps him to get into his forms. He stumps his feet, bends over, rocks his body and rubs his face. Then he recalls that feeling of pressure reminds him of wrestling with other kids and get pinned down on the ground when he was in school. He also recalls an incident that when he was young boy, his family eat in a restaurant. His father comes to him with an oyster. He asks the client to eat it but the client doesn't want to. But the dad forces him to eat the oyster. He feels very bad about the oyster. We decide to run a rock process on this. One member volunteers to be the PM. I feel afraid if the client can't understand my English if I am the PM so I decide to volunteer other roles. We run the situation for the first round and the client swallows the oyster. He really looks suffering. Tribe identify the mom is the rock donor. So we play the second round. When the dad forces the boy to eat the oyster, the mom comes to the kid and hands him a rock, tells him to shutdown his feelings and stay safe from confronting his dad. In the next play, Tribe instruct the boy to fore-give the rock to his mother. He does so. Then the messenger comes and hands him a heart rock, telling him to stand up and share his feelings. The client says he can't do it now by himself and he wants to see others to do it first. I volunteer to be the surrogate. When the dad approaches, I feel great pressure for he looks big and powerful. I tell him I am scared, I ask how he feels. He tells me he feels angry. I thank him to tell me his feeling and ask him to tell me more. I try to use everything I learned to connect his feeling. The dad walks away then. Now the client wants to do it himself. When he talks to his dad, he smiles and looks more relaxed than how I did. He asks how his father likes the oyster. His father tells him it's good. Then the client suggests the father eat it and show him how good it is. Then the dad eat it. It sounds a smart move and the moves unfold when talking about the feelings of the oyster. It's interesting. The client releases everyone from their roles and we do the final checkout. It's a intense meeting and I gain a lot from all the processes. I feel good about dropping the baggage and simply care about my wife. Thanks, |
Thank you for sharing your process and for documenting the meeting. | |||||||||
Jun 17, 2014 Tribe Meeting Report: Check In # feel clean # feel warm, easy buzz after bike ride # cooling off, sweaty, upset stomach # tingling in fingers, relaxed, happy # relaxed, buzzing in stomach, ate too much # feel good, clear minded # cooling down, irritated & on edge for a week, no clear source of irritation. Show & Tell # This is the 2nd month of managing other's money. Gaining insight into how reluctant folks are to learning about good investing/trading. Got a lot done around the house and programming. # Data scrubbing exercise was an eye-opener, planted flowers for the first time in several years and it feels good # Feel stuck on getting folks to give him opportunities to do animation. # Things go slow and well # Refrigerator project 100% done. Wife complains contents were lost. Realizes he's not sharing feelings with wife. Feel's helpless with wife's problems. Doesn't need to trade as much. # My data scrubbing project was very revealing–lots of O=H=L=C data to begin data series; removed. Good alumni meeting. Up/down on my diet. # Exhausted from interviewing 8 people in two days. Story board done. Band has several songs. Programming going well. Needs to be totally engaged for 3-4 hours a day to learn a new language. Issue Development We bring problems to the Tribe. A problem is a difference between what we have and what we want to have. The Tribe helps remove the difference and then what we have equals what we want. # Wife won't share feelings and resists TTP. We suggests a test for willingness and if she says "No" then stop. TTP isn't something you "do" to another. You do it and others may/may not respond.) Also, he wants to "jump" his system and get in good trades early. Feels confused, regret, greed, hope. Wants to not follow system. Doesn't want to feel all his feelings. # Seems to drop stuff on floor a lot, angering his wife. Wants to put car in garage but wife won't get rid of stuff. # Doesn't like being a "captive" when his family says a prayer before meals. # I ask about "Judgment blocks CM«Fred communication" from Ed's website here: Ed asks me what I'd like to improve and I say that I have a many fears. Ed continues to ask "How does that feel?" I have a fear of not knowing how to do things, not doing things well, being criticized for that. I judge "I don't know" & "I don't know how" as bad feelings to be avoided. Ed comments that the feelings of not knowing and not knowing how are good feelings–successful inventors "live" there. Make friends with those feelings. I judge the "not knowing" fear as bad and I won't feel it. So I avoid situations where it comes up and if that involves work I must do then it gets put off until it becomes a crisis. When I accept the feeling, I'll work normally on things and they'll get more done easily. This is a terrific example of how judging feelings blocks CM-Fred communications so Fred creates more drama ("shouts at CM"). I have an example of this at work the week after this meeting. I'm asked for several obscure data points; a rush job; talking points for a client lunch. I decide to fully feel the anxiety of my perfectionism and then I proceed anyway. The work gets done with little of the drama that I used to go through. [We break for dinner.] I also worry "what people will think" – they might reject me – so I hesitate to reach out to them in business. Ed suggests rejection is normal and to be expected. So feel the feeling of potential rejection, make friends with it, don't judge it as "bad and to be avoided at all costs", then go ahead and reach out! I resolve to accept the positive intention of my feelings, to feel more of my feelings, and to judge them less. A fellow Tribe member tells me I've got the "Good Guy" thing going for me. I don't understand. He explains that I'm smart, friendly, hard-working: a "good guy". I feel good about this compliment but I'm also surprised – it confuses me a bit – I really don't know how others perceive me. Role Playing # We role play establishing intimacy with a waitress. She has a substance abusing sister. Hotseat tells her that makes him sad, a judgment; not desirable. Restart. Hotseat accepts her feelings and asks her to share more. Things go better. # I role play a tribe member's hoarding wife. It doesn't proceed smoothly so we swap roles. He plays his wife much better than I. As him, I establish rapport and use intimacy to find a common ground with his wife. Perhaps this will give the Hotseat some resources to use at home in exploring his wife's willingness to help clear out some of the hoarded material. # We role play with tribe member as Hotseat's wife. Hotseat emotionally amps up and starts jabbing his finger at his wife as he accuses her: "No, you!" I suggest he ask her to share feelings with him. He turns to her and says "I don't want you to share your feelings with me." We all laugh. He is so involved he doesn't get it. Restart. We suggest telling her "I want to be close to you" and then stopping & waiting for her response. Things go better with this approach. # Hotseat has been uneasy for a week or so. Things are going well but he has a malaise. Thinking about moving to save taxes. Old friends are sick. We spot a form and encourage him to amp it up. He quickly develops a form of hands clenched together; arms extended and clenched between legs, head down, face scowling, loud growling. "Someone holding me down, like a blanket". Remembers wrestling in recess–when you pinned a guy then game over–but he remembers when someone pins him and mucus goes in his mouth; disgusting. It reminds him of eating a raw oyster; very unpleasant. Dad told him to swallow the oyster. Later, he had to vomit the oyster out. To this day he can't swallow vitamins. Tough choice: swallow the oyster or take a hard hit from Dad. The sickening feeling of the oyster in his stomach stayed with him for weeks. Very strong sick feeling. Whole body. Hotseat worries about being tricked. Been tricked a lot. Dad said "Let me see that loose tooth; I won't pull it"; then he did. Dad promised he'd get a hammer after he got his tonsils out but then gave him a tiny "toy" hammer instead not a real one. Dad promises he'll like oyster then forces him to eat it when he doesn't. Hotseat is contacted by high school classmate for 50 year reunion and is wistful. Classmate remembers what kind of guitar Hotseat was using 50 years ago. He's sad about being in 7 high schools in 4 years and moving once a year on average. Interestingly, both classmates envy the life the other has lived: stay-home stability vs. world traveler. Hotseat is worried new business venture is going to screw up. "Can't take it to the next level." "Do great as an individual but can't put a company together." (DIM?) Hotseat is worried about moving for tax advantages. The advantage is substantial but the decision has to be made in a couple of weeks to get advantage for this year. I pick up the feelings of "moving" and "rushed". I recall the pressure on our family of moving to Europe when I was young. Moving forces decisions. Hotseat recalls many rushed decisions that didn't turn out well. I feel that moving is a part of the Hotseat's process. When you are young and you move, it's like a reset on all your personal relationships. You can be more adventurous in relationships if you know they'll all be reset in a year or so. Similarly, I feel that rushed decisions are a part of the Hotseat's process. He may have learned from his parent's many moves that "quickly" is how you make decisions. This may be good for small stuff but not so good for business ventures and marriages. Hotseat concludes rushing is a residual pattern from his father. It's 12:05 AM, well past our usual 11 PM end time. We start a rocks process re-enacting the oyster incident. Hotseat realizes that his Mom (who was also bullied by his Dad) was the rock donor, telling him to shut down and do as his Dad says or you'll be hit and it'll be worse. As we proceed, Hotseat recalls being forced to eat the oyster is "the same feeling as when I have to make a (rushed) decision." Hotseat: Shut down, "swallow" something you don't like in a rush decision. Puke it out later. Repeat this pattern with relationships. [From investopedia.com: "Puke – A slang term describing the sale of a security or other asset regardless of how much loss will be incurred." In TTP-speak puking is Fred making you feel so bad about a trade that you'll sell it at any price to be rid of it (usually at a great loss). In a bear market, some wise traders wait for "weak hands" to puke out their holdings and then they buy.] I play his Mom with a new pro-active heart rock. "Use it to share feelings, establish rapport, and it has a point that you can use to defend yourself with if you must." Hotseat re-enacts scenario with Dad. Heart Rock helps establish rapport. Dad, who likes oysters, winds up eating them all. After Meeting Notes I'm impressed with how easily the last Hotseat gets into a form, develops the issue, and uses the Rocks process to install a new pro-active heart rock. This meeting runs extra-long; well past our usual 11 PM end time. I feel it is one of the best in this series so far. Well worth it. I thank my fellow Tribe members for their insights and support. I am pleased to help my fellow Tribe members with TTP, clearing out restrictive rocks and replacing them with heart rocks. I feel role playing is "Fred-ian" calisthenics giving a workout to emotional muscles that have atrophied in me. I resolve to role play whenever I can at Tribe meetings. I bring cookies full of sugar to the meeting. I have mixed feelings since I'm on a low-carb diet. Ed kids me about this before the meeting. He says "Betcha can't eat just one!" just like the Lays potato chip commercial. And I don't: I eat one each at dinner and at our two breaks – the sugar keeps me awake and I find I can fully participate in Tribe, a good thing, instead of being sleepy like I often am. This is important to me as I help in our last Hotseat. |
Thank you for sharing you process and for documenting the meeting. | |||||||||
Jun 17, 2014 Hi Ed. Thank you in advance. |
You can see the report at FAQ, June 6, 2014. | |||||||||
Jun 17, 2014 I hope you are well. I recently listened to your interview on Michael Covel's Podcast - really excellent. Congratulations. I started a podcast myself - Zen Investing Podcast - and have enjoyed interviewing various alternative investment guests, ranging from Marc Faber, to Jack Schwager, to even a Medical Marijuana entrepreneur. I know you are on the right track with Govopoly - specifically, understanding that complex system dynamics is behind it all. I would love to interview you via Skype at your convenience for the Zen Investing Podcast and help you promote your book. Please advise of your interest in such an interview. Regards, PS: Is your book on Amazon? If not, where can i get a copy? |
Thank you for sending me your invitation. Podcast: yes. Where to Buy: www.Govopoly.com |
|||||||||
| Jun 16, 2014 Wants to Learn Ed, ... I have been studying trading for a couple of years now. I recently graduated from college, and have been seeking a path to grow my passion for trading. I have long been a fan of your trading and philosophy on life, and recently learned about the Trading Tribe community you have set up. I live in Houston, but have been informed the Tribe here is inactive. I was wondering if there were any upcoming meetings in Austin, or any way I can learn more about the community by coming to Austin? Developing my passion for trading is very important to me. In addition, developing my overall life and becoming the strongest version of myself Is my goal. If you could send me any information on the Tribe would be greatly appreciated. I have learned a lot from you so far, and wish to continue learning principles that you have found resourceful to your success. Thank you, |
Thank you for raising this issue. You can gather information by reading through FAQ, by reading The Trading Tribe , by attending Tribe meetings and / or by attending a TTP Workshop. |
|||||||||
Jun 16, 2014 Ed, I start the meeting wondering if I will bring up a recent issue I experience at a family gathering.We drum, share progress and discuss issues. While I feel others seem anxious to discuss their issues, I feel I purposefully wait to bring up my issue. My issue involves a family prayer at a recent family gathering. This time it is my oldest brother, again. I am given no choice in the matter. I have no opportunity to excuse myself, or my wife if she feels uncomfortable, from the room without creating drama. I am captive. I am trapped. My freedom gone. I do not like the feeling. In the past, my old response pattern was to feel immense anger build inside me and then suppress it. Feel shi--y about myself for putting up with it. The end result? Added distance between me and my family members. Over time, I would close the distance only to encounter the prayer again. The cycle repeated. This time I feel the positive intention of my anger and immediately notice the internal walls and distance building. I am still stuck as I bring this to tribe. I have expressed my feelings about prayer and religion before to my family and feel I have to do it again. I am asked what I want. Isn't it obvious?! I want a normal relationship with my family without the religious overlay! I am asked if I have asked them about their feelings about the family prayer. I have not. I think, "Why the hell would I do that? No one has ever asked me for my feelings about anything!" "Quit stirring the pot and bow your head." I stop writing this report and telephone my brother to ask his feelings. He does not pick up. I feel disappointment. The hot seat for the meeting reports feeling slight irritation recently. He is not sure the source of the irritation. After forms develop, he recalls being force fed oysters by his father. Eat the oysters or get hit. I immediately relate to this. Only I had to eat beets. And I was given a time stop to eat the beets or my father was going to help me eat them. I always waited until the last second before eating the beets. It was amazing what I could do in a time crunch! I hate beets and think about this whenever I see them. This hot seat also made me think about being force fed the bible. Yep! The process was the same without the time stop. I was going to 'eat' the bible whether I liked it or not. Only difference was I had to eat the bible with more frequency and quantity than the beets. I feel a sense of relief writing about this. Thank you tribe members for another great meeting. |
Thank you for sharing your process and your insights. | |||||||||
| Jun 16, 2014 |
You can find several references on Google. | |||||||||
June 16, 2014 • I'm not saying let's go kill all the stupid people. I'm just saying let's remove all the warning labels and let the problem work itself out. |
Thank you for sharing your wise words. | |||||||||
Jun 16, 2014 We have 3 members in the May 29th East Lake Village Tribe(Yorba Linda) meeting. We start with a role play of a situation. One member reports that he has a pattern that whenever he makes a progress, before achieving to the next level in his trading, or career, he would back off or change cause. He gives a example in his office. His immediate boss gets promotion and then starts to give him more responsibilities. One of them is to ask him to coach two of the new team members. He refuses it and later he quit that group. We explore the situation in control centric way. I play the boss and he refuses to take the coaching job. He insists he it's not responsibility to coach new team member. And I tell him I expect him as the senior member to help new comers to pick up quickly. He then says he is busy on two other jobs. I feel annoyed and tell him I can ask other team member to take over his current job and he can focus on teaching new members. This sounds like a dead end of his career here. The we explore the sharing feeling approach by telling the boss "I feel insecure for you sending me to teach junior members to take over my job". And "I feel sad." " I want to continue contributing to the company". This works differently on the situation. Then we role play another situation. Once he gets off work. When he is only 5 minutes away from home, his boss calls him and ask him to go back to office. He feels there's no emergency work and refused. The second day the boss comes to his cubical and tells him that whenever he wants the employee comes back to the office, the employee should do so. Then the boss leaves. His boss is also his close friend, but later promoted to the manager position. He thinks his boss is testing him by exercising his power. Then we role play this situation. One member plays the boss and ask him to come. He tells his boss that he is almost home and if there's nothing urgent he doesn't want to. Then the boss hangs up. In another play, he tells the boss he needs to get home and talk to his wife and then go back. After getting home, he calls again and tells the boss he is very tired and probably sick. Tribe think this looks like faking sickness. If he already agrees, he should go. The client thinks the boss doesn't really need help and just wants to exercise his power. Then we play what happen when he get back to the office. Situation one is the boss ask his help on one document. He tells him that he is going to do it tomorrow and is reluctant to do it now. Then we play intimacy centric approach and the boss shares his feeling of wanting the help and get it done today. The client shares that he feels sad and still wants to help. They build rapport this way. In situation two, we want the boss to be really a person who wants to exercise his power and screw the employee. So when the client hurry back to the office, the boss tells him there's no more issue and dismiss him casually. Tribe then helps the client to practice share feeling in this case. The client tells his boss he is sad. Then we ask the client if he has other feeling. There seems to be. Tribe ask the client that what if the boss calls him again at midnight? The client says he feels angry about this. Tribe tells the client that he might want to show his anger to set boundary to protect himself. When the client tells this boss he is angry, we don't really see his anger. We realize that he suppress his feelings in unintentional way. Then the client does it again, this time he raise his voice and shows some real anger. Even though he might overdoes it with some control centric words, I still feel he is doing something totally different than before. It's an improvement. Then the clients says he wants to play the boss and let another tribe member to play the surrogate. When the surrogate shares with the boss his feels sad, the rest of tribe don't feel his true sadness either. He actually chuckles and shakes head when he says he is sad. This reminds me of the mask we work on in Austin tribes. So I ask the member if he wants to explore the feelings of being sad and wanting to laugh. He agree and tells us it's his way to laugh when he feel powerless, sad or anger. Tribe then help the member gets into forms. He clenches his fists and bends over, rub his face then put one hand behind his head. He is feeling sad, powerless, weak and wanting to laugh and cover it. I freeze him and ask him what he can remember. He recalls that when he is in elementary school, once the teacher designates him to be the leader to keep the order of the class when the teacher is not around. But the class goes chaotic after the teacher leaves and he can not keep order. He ask he friends to be quiet and to study. His friends don't comply. One friend tells others that the clients get the student leader position only because his mom is the friend of the teacher. He feels powerless, weakness and embarrassed. Then the client meets another teacher, and the teacher tells him that he should not show his emotion of sadness or weakness to other students. The clients get the idea and then does so. He feels it works and he is able to keep the order. But he feels he lose his friend and feel distance from them now. Then we role play this situation. Another member and I play the students. We start to chat and walk around the classroom. When the client comes to us and ask us to stay quiet, we make fun of him, and trying to bring him into play. He chuckles and keep asking us to behave. I feel annoyed and ask the other member to go to playground. He tries to stop us and he can't. The client tells us many times it works when he wears the smiley mask. And I ask him whether he wants to change. Or we can conclude the process. We don't fix people in the Tribe until he asks for help and is willing to change rocks. The client tells us he wants to change, for he feels distant from past friends since his has the chuckles. So we replay the situation with intimacy centric approach. When the client share his powerlessness, and weakness, I try to be sarcastic. He looks more embarrassed. We remind him to stick to feeling and he does so. After few times he share his feeling, he ask how I feel. I feel bored actually. I feel less fun to go out. The client shares with us that he feels fear if the dean catches us. He is our friend and he wants to take care of us. It starts to make sense to me and I don't know what to say and stay silent. During the check out, we all like today's meeting and like the way we focus on practical applications and intensive role plays. We plan to have more such meetings and update progress to each other. Thanks, |
||||||||||
Jun 15, 2014 We have 3 members in June 5th tribe meeting in East Lake Village (Yorba Linda) Tribe. One member asks me why I don't go to those trader's community group to give presentation and try to recruit more Tribe member. I give him a brief history of our Tribe, past effort of recruiting, and want to know how he feels about the Tribe. The member shares his fear of insecurity, fear of no longer having a Tribe. I receive his feelings and share my feeling of being patient and wait for the right one. Sometimes we explore the feeling of wanting others to come to the Tribe and end up revealing our own issues. I also deeply feel rapport with this member for I also share the feeling of wanting a fully functional Tribe, wanting to create rapport with a Tribe of like-minded people. When I listen to the Tribe member, I feel warmth in my heart. I believe if a person really commits to change himself, there's nothing can stop him from finding the name Ed Seykota, and there's nothing can stop him from finding the Trading Tribe website, and then find us. While I keep the meetup interface open to public, I want focus on working with current Tribe and making more good meetings. People we grab by marketing never stay long. And they sometimes even bring drama to the Tribe. As Ed once says, they find all kinds of reason to get out. Willingness is behind of every reason. One member reports that recently his boss sends other two team members for a technical training and he is not aware and not in the list. He feel sad, insecure and anger. We start the role play of the situation that he goes to talk to his boss about this. I play the boss. He walks into my office and ask me why I don't send him to the training. I tell him that I don't know he wants to go. and the other two employees tell me they want to go. The client doesn't like my answer. He says that he has always been working on this project and of course he must be one of the trainee. I don't like his tone and dismiss him. We then pause and share our feeling about the skit. The tribe member says that he believe I intentionally leave him out of loop. So we repeat this with intimacy centric approaches. When the client stands in front of me and says he feels sad the third time, I start to feel it. I then want to take a look what I can do for him to help him. I ask him when the training starts. He tells me that it's tomorrow. I then tell him that I am going to contact the training provider and add him to the list. He seems to be happy. We both can feel the interaction on the feeling level in this round. In the next play, the client wants to try a different position. He sits there and lean back, and tells me he is sad. this time I don't feel the sadness. Instead, I feel he is trying to control me. I tell the client that the way he says it makes me feel different. He sit there, far from me, leaning back on the couch, looking at me from the side instead of facing me, and the tone is not as sincere as the previous play. They all make me feel an attitude of "look, I am sad, so what you are going to do for me". I tell the client I like the way he does it last time, it feels more sincere. We conclude this session and go to the next. Another member reports that he has problem to stay active when getting home after work. He has lots of to do at home but he feels lack of mental energy to do any of them and stay passive. I ask him to explore feeling of a checklist TODOs and don't want to do none of them. He feels lonely, and some kind of fear. He feels tension in his chest area, and contrast of muscle on his upper back. We start to encourage him to amplify his forms. And he recalls a near death experience in a swimming pool when he is young kid. Somehow he gets separated by a group of swimmers from his father in the pool and the side of the pool is out of reach. He starts to sink and a shock of all emotions suddenly comes to him. He feel drowning while surround by a lot of people, dying not being noticed and regrets he should have been close to his father. Fortunately he is able to bump into somebody and grab the side of the pool and survive. Then we start to role play this situation, I can't find other roles in this play so another member and I play the water. We hold a couch cushion and smother him in his face. We explore around the situation until the client feel the letting go. Somehow I feel good about this process for it doesn't make sense, and I don't have a goal in this play. We just play. For a while the client keeps talking and explains his situation. We ask him to stay in the role and stop explaining and just experience. After a while he gets deeper in it. During the process. he also recalls another incidents which he feels the same way, and it's much earlier than this. Once he gets lost in the amusement park and can't find his parents. He cries and a couple approach him. The lady wants to help him and the man is not willing to. He cries more. Eventually the workers in the park come and helps him find his parents. So we start to hack this event. I play the wife and the other member plays the husband. The husband share his feeling of worrying about the liabilities. And the client share his fear and sadness. When review this process, I realize the client might still in the shadow of PTSD far back in his mind, and the fear relate to it shows up when he is separate from crowd, namely, home alone. He can't enjoy being lonely and stay active. This might be the connection. But during the meeting, we focus more on just doing it. We palpate around his mental world, peek here and poke there, without a specific purpose. I feel more comfortable about stay out of control and let the process run itself. Between the local tribe meetings, I call my tribe members and share with them that I want to build rapport with Tribe members. Everybody is glad about the idea. We want to get together after meeting, have a dinner or have some fun together. We don't do it before in the Tribe and now we want to do it. Today I talk to the Tribe member on the phone, and he tells me that he realizes couple days later that the feelings he experiences in the near death role play also reminds me his traumatic child birth. The hot seat sends me his report and ask me to forward his report to FAQ. I am glad to see all tribe members are willing to contribute to FAQ and be part of the history. I also encourage members to submit directly to FAQ. Thank you. ----- Hi , I am writing this as an update to our meeting last evening, please post it on the FAQ under our Tribe name if you would like to (with identity info, such as specific names, removed or altered to generalize please). My problem was that ever since I had a bad cold a couple of weeks ago, I have been feeling really tired and lazy, and I know physically I have recovered, but somehow mentally I appear to be bogged down in something that just sucked away my energy and causing me to not able to focus my mental or physical energy to be as productive as I could. It was like fighting against some sort of invisible barrier that drained my energy and just would not allow me to be freed from it. So I shared this problem I have with the Tribe, and during going around sharing feelings, I went onto the hot seat. It was quite amazing that we literally role-played and ran through a near-death experience when I was a very young child in a public swimming pool - before this TTP Rock I really did not have very good recollection of this experience, all I remembered was that I got separated by the crowd in the pool from my father, struggled in the water near the edge of the pool, and then I pulled myself out of the pool, I thought that was it. I never realized that I experienced a few seconds of under-water "stillness" where I lingered in ever-increasing hopelessness and near drowning, and then very luckily someone in the pool bumped into and propelled me so I was able to touch the edge of the pool again and pulled myself above water and survived. And after the tribe meeting was over last evening, I felt very sleepy, and after I got home, I felt to sleep in my car (this is not uncommon in the past week or so, I had issue where I lost track of time and did not realize how tired I was and fell to sleep at front of my computer, TV, etc., I usually do not have such problems at all). Thank You, Part 2 of client member's update Hi , More updates since past weekend: During the past weekend, I noticed that I have become more stress-proof. Not that I have no stresses in my life currently (as a matter of fact, I currently am going through a stage of my personal life where I am facing stresses and overloads coming from all fronts – work, family issues, trading, advanced education, etc.) it is that I have noticed that I have been able to remain more centered and focused when multi-stresses hit at once, where as in the past, I get overtaken by some very strong feeling of hopelessness and then feel that timelessness, and then I just shut down internally while I need to force myself to keep on operating on an external manner. But now when I am under a lot of stresses, I no longer shut down internally and am able to focus and remained centered to actively sort out the situations in logical manners. This is great improvement; I am mentally "tougher" now. Also, I noticed something that is interesting – I have stopped losing my hair. I have noticed during the past couple of weeks, while I was experiencing all the stresses and that timelessness and out-of-mental-focus fog, I also was losing hair in alarming rate daily. But after the last tribe meeting past Thursday, I have noticed in the morning that my hair loss had stopped and ever since. There are still a lot of things I need to work on and sort out in my life now, but now I am again capable to mentally focus and work actively to dig myself out of the hole, instead of just sitting there with that overwhelming hopeless feeling while hoping things would eventually calm down. I will keep updating as I come to notice more changes and improvements. Sincerely,
|
Thank you for sharing your processes and for documenting your meeting. | |||||||||
Jun 15, 2014 this is the best article i read this year. my friends and i currently implement this process to see if we experience any benefit. |
Thank you for sending me the link, I wonder how you feel about getting too little sleep. |
|||||||||
Jun 15, 2014 Ed, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/ |
Thank you for sending me the link. I wonder how you feel about it. |
|||||||||
Jun 15, 2014 Dear Ed, I am sorry it has been so long since we got together, in my office at the top of the Seagram Building, over ten years ago. With best wishes, |
Thank you for your support. Yes, you may send the pages to your friends. |
|||||||||
Jun 14, 2014 With lots of job satisfaction I inform you that I booked my profits in this [yesterday] : http://www.bseindia.com/stock-share-price/vsttillers-tractors-ltd/vst-tillers/531266/ Now I feel like not working hard and start respecting that feeling and decide to take a break for few days. Your guidance about feelings is helping me a lot. Thank you so much. Writing in SVO=P helps staying in the present moment of now. I read this and feel sharing with you. "We are very good at preparing to live, but not very good at living. We know how to sacrifice ten years for a diploma, and we are willing to work very hard to get a job, a car, a house, and so on. But we have difficulty remembering that we are alive in the present moment, the only moment there is for us to be alive." |
Thank you for sharing your process. | |||||||||
Jun 14, 2014 [Name] and I are enjoying your book. The answer to big government is the decentralization of various power structures, ie, governments, banks, insurance companies, etc. That said, I've been involved in bitcoin / cryptocurrencies long enough to have experienced being called a crackpot numerous times, akin to when I was raving about the internet shortly after it transformed from its earlier incarnation known as the arpanet in the 1980s, thus I know I'm on the right track ;o) Cryptocurrencies truly empower the individual while decentralizing power structures. Bitcoin potentially will take apart governments, banks, insurance companies, and law firms among many other entities. Without being able to print fiat money, governments will no longer be able to fund their wars. Of course, should governments all ban bitcoin, it will go underground much as P2P file sharing has done. Here's the P2P idea for lending which should eventually turn into a multi-trillion $ business: I've had the idea of P2P insurance via bitcoin/crypto since insurance companies are multi-billion $ conglomerates where profit cushions run high at the cost to the individual. Incidentally, I'm launching the world's first bitcoin / cryptocurrency position traded fund, and we just signed a new contract with Wiley & Sons for our third book. I hope all is well with you. I'll leave you with one of my music videos to my piano song Waterfall: Best, |
Thank you for sharing your process. | |||||||||
| June 14, 2014 Holding Winners Dear Ed, I see your reply : I wonder how you feel about riding winners, cutting losses and managing risk. I feel very good about keeping my intentions clear: I feel very good about riding winners, keeping first loss as the best loss and managing risk rationally. Few months back I had sent you one chart with a note: One good trend pay for them all. I am glad I have kept that winner along with others: http://www.bseindia.com/stock-share-price/vsttillers-tractors-ltd/vst-tillers/531266/# Pl see one year chart. Thank you so much for guiding about the winners. With lots of regards, |
Thank you for sharing your process, | |||||||||
June 14, 2014 The cold oyster immediately trigger a deep gagging and vomiting response (in my memory and also during the Tribe process). |
Thank you for sharing your process. | |||||||||
June 14, 2014 I continue with my TTP food process - curiously, with no requirement for diet or exercise.
|
Thank you for sharing your process. You might expect, as our society drifts more and more toward central control and medicinal solutions, a side-effect of people gaining weight. For more on this, see my book, Govopoly in the 39th Day. |
|||||||||
| Jun 13, 2014 Tribe Meeting Report - Dealing with Bullies and Critics Hi Chief, This is my update since the the last tribe meeting and my hot seat experience. I have noticed some changes and some events that I can attribute to the skills I have acquired in the TTP. Since my TTP hot seat, the annoyance and anger I used to feel around my roommate seems to has dissipated. I often see a friend who gets irritated with some phone calls he receives. He tells me about them all the time. It happens to be unsolicited calls from a company located in [Country]. He has used them once to fix his laptop. Now he gets calls from them all the time day or night. These are basically warning calls about what needs to get done to
his laptop, otherwise, he looses all the data and gets viruses. Another incident is with one of my long time friend, who wants to start a business together. He always irritates me with his controlling and judgmental behavior. He finds something wrong with whatever I do and criticizes me.
Every time we meet to discuss the potential business, end up having arguments. After each meeting I promise never tell him anything but the process repeats again and I meet with him again and leave with a feelings of anger
and frustration. Last week he invites me to meet with him. I decide to get together and use my newly acquired skills from TTP. Thank you |
Thank you for sharing your process and for documenting your results. | |||||||||
| Jun 13, 2014 Flutter By Dear Ed,
Sincerely, |
Thank you for sharing your insights. | |||||||||
Jun 11, 2014 Palladium Surges To 14 Year High; "Can Go To $1,000" On Miner Strikes | Zero Hedge |
Thank you for raising this issue. You might like to continue monitoring the action over the next few days. |
|||||||||
Jun 11, 2014 I would probably attend a Workshop emphasizing trading. I would not be able to attend the weekend of Sep. 19-21. If you schedule it in the Austin area in the fall then be aware of UT football home games -- hotels are often filled on those weekends. I would be happy to make a brief presentation of my data scrubbing of indexes, stocks, mutual funds & ETFs. |
Thank you for expressing interest. | |||||||||
| To Top of Page | Reply Template
|
