Trade Mindfully

those with low self-esteem actually felt worse when they repeated positive self statements or considered the truth of the statements.

control thoughts and feelings just isn't effective.

Repeating positive affirmations such as, “every day, I'm becoming a better and better trader,” are widely believed to change one's negative thinking, boost mood, and promote enhanced self-esteem. This is not true.

it may be possible that engaging in meaningful activities may be more effective in changing the way people think than directly attempting to alter thinking.”

Kelly Wilson points out that we have all had thoughts and feelings that we were convinced were true, only to find later that they failed to hold up to our predictions.

see Exercise 3.2: The Short- and Long-Term Costs and Benefits of My Control Strategies) that trying to suppress or eliminate your thoughts and feelings isn't workable. Changing your thoughts in the attempt to make them more accurate is merely a variation on this theme. Many readers will have also documented their efforts to change their thoughts by trying to make them more precise, correct, and truthful in that exercise and found that this didn't remedy their problems.

When our focus is on our internal experience, it dramatically diminishes our performance capabilities because it diverts attention from the trade. Attention is a limited mental resource

Steph's mind insisted she exit the trade. It told her how she could not tolerate another loss. Fused with her mind she covered her short trade.

Jumping into unplanned trades are typically caused by fusion with the mind telling you how the market is about to take off, you shouldn't miss this move, you can make up for past losses with this trade, blah, blah, blah.

your mind is likely telling you stories replete with loss and doubt about the quality of this trade setup.