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Questions (Quotes from Ed in Red)	Answers
Sat, 14 Jan 2006 Magical Powers Ed. You are rare, to me, in the sense that you understand to a much greater degree than most about life as it applies to psychology and scientific reality. I know of no one as efficient in both, so I thought I'd send this question to you in hopes of some kind of helpful response. A while ago I read a book about Aikido, a very subtle but very effective martial art founded by Morihei Ueshiba O'Sensei. O'Sensei was a true martial art master. I won't explain it well, but he was a man who, when it came to all aspects of life, definitely "got it." Throughout the book, he is described to send men hurdling through the air by barely touching them, incapacitating people by placing a couple of fingers on them, and there were descriptions of his yell being loud enough to not only stop his attackers, but to actually put out the lights in the dojo. I found a clip on the internet from one of his demonstrations where he was indeed tossing men around seemingly very effortlessly. I have absolutely no doubts about his credibility and I believe that we are physically capable of these very things, but there was another story in the book that I could not get out of my head. The author, a student and just a boy at the time, was sitting in front of him quietly and simply watching him read a book. I distinctly remember him saying that it may have been a breeze in the room, but he was amazed at what looked to him as if the pages of the book would actually turn themselves without O'Sensei even touching them. He never claims this to be absolute, and from what I remember, the rest of the book seemed very level headed. Now, regardless of whether this particular story is true or not, I couldn't shake the possibility of it out of my head. I know that people can harness incredible energies (average people lifting cars in accidents, for example), but, in your opinion, can we go a step further, and actually move something, even if only the smallest physical objects, without physically touching it? Or is this idea totally far-fetched and without credibility in your opinion?	Yes, you can do a lot of magic tricks with mind power, particularly if you have a support team that knows how to use mirrors, lighting, thread, magnets, fans, etc. You might consider taking your feelings of wanting magical powers to your Tribe as an entry point. Rare Photo of Sensei Marilyn magically levitating her meditation robes. Clip: http://www.posterscaptions.com/ viewPOS.php?PID=32
Sat, 14 Jan 2006 5 X Increase in Assets Dear Ed, Hello and a little update from the tribe. I have multiplied by 5 the assets under management by focusing more on the business then on the quote screen and realized 49.7% profit during the same period ( 21 weeks) I have also one more friend in the tribe he is a champion in computer and we work together to develop and automatism more our trading. He has a great personality and we intend to practice TTP at our next meeting.	Thank you for sharing your process. This Handy Device is useful for computing a five-fold increase in assets
Fri, 13 Jan 2006 Interprets Patterns & Doesn't Believe in Mechanical Systems Dear Mr. Seykota, Much appreciation for everything. It feels strange writing to someone I have looked up to for so many years. I just have a few comments/observations that you will hopefully comment on. So here goes ... I'm a college student and I have been trading for about 3 years and 4 months. I got lucky in the spring 03' NASDAQ bull market by buying blindly because I was hoping blindly. I lost those profits (about 3 grand) over the course of a year and a half. I made many ridiculous mistakes and lost all the profits, but fortunately I have always been very good with cutting losses and didn't lose any of my tiny principle. After studying markets intensely during this losing period I came up with the rough way of trading that I use now. In the last year and a half I have turned about $2,500 into $40,000 currently (trading mostly stock options), and I have not been overtrading, as my usual loss is around 2.5%-3% of equity. I attribute these gains to certain patterns that I have discovered for bull and bear markets. They are universal market patterns that are always different yet always the same. I can often interpret the pattern correctly which sometimes allows me to pyramid heavily at the onset with no losses to worry about. I don't believe in mechanical systems because markets always move differently and a human mind that is well attuned to market psychology through experience (as long as the mind is clear) can be much more useful than rigid rules about moving average crossovers or something like that. I find indicators like moving averages or stochastic to be useless because all the facts of the situation are already shown in the price and volume changes. I sometimes view such indicators as a crutch for people who do not properly understand price movements and need something to "tip them off" to buy or sell.I must say that I was inspired to write to you today because of a quote from your 2003 FAQ archives that struck me forcefully. It is from the Red Baron fighter pilot. "At that time I had not yet the conviction "He must fall!" which I have now on such occasions, but on the contrary, I was curious to see whether he would fall. There is a great difference between the two feelings." I believe this describes the essence of successful trading and possibly any success in life. I also liked your comment in those archives about reading Reminiscences until you forget how many times, as my copy is about to fall apart! To finish, a few points you might find interesting: -Here is one rule I have discovered that seems to go contrary to trend following principles. This rule has held true for every sufficiently liquid (meaning not some 50,000 share a day stock) major bull market I have studied. If a market's price doubles anytime within a one month and one week time period (usually just 1 month), you should take your profit and wait. If the trend continues upward (very rare) it will at least react for several weeks after doubling so that it is always wise to take this profit. Of course nobody knows the future, but following this rule anytime in the past would have been much more profitable than waiting for a definite trend change. See the great Gold and Sugar 70's bull markets as good examples. - In your Dec.5th FAQ response you used Steve Jobs as an example of change. I believe this was a subconscious hint that you were long of Apple and expected it to go higher. If I had not already been heavily long of AAPL I may have bought a little just on that, and wow didn't it turn out true! - Lastly, here's a prediction (I'm not a fundamentalist even if this sounds like it). Today is Jan. 13. The NASDAQ will go sharply higher through mid-February and likely make a short term top in mid March. I had to say this because I've never been more sure of anything in the market. OK. I'm finally done. Sorry it was so long but I had to get this all off my chest because I don't even know anyone who trades, much less at a masters level like you. --- In regards to the "FAQ comments" post that I sent a few hours ago, the gold market is not a good example of the rule I talked about, replace instead with "YHOO in June of 98' and also YHOO in September of 98'"	You might consider taking your feelings about crutches, being sure and worry to your Tribe as entry points. Another Sure-Thing Trade The contributor buys on Friday, January 13 (red circle) with no worries.
Fri, 13 Jan 2006 How Can I Access Your Therapy I would be greatly interested in your therapy, but doubt I can access it from where I live. I wonder, though, if there are other, related groups in your area, which practice similar methods to yours. If it does not conflict with you, do you have any idea where I should look for some? From one scientologist I spoke with over a year ago, diabetics has a very similar process. Is this the case?	Perhaps diabetics refers to the auditing practices of L. Ron Cupboard. If you mean Dianetics (now, Scientology) you might get the flavor from some of the words they use: AS-IS-NESS Seeing things as they actually are, the full truth about something AUDITING Spiritual counseling, typically with an e-meter. BLACK PROPAGANDA Lies in public relations to invalidate a person or group or their ideas. B-1 A designation of the personal intelligence files in the Guardians Office. E-METER A sensitive resistance meter used in spiritual Counseling in Dianetics and Scientology ENGRAM Hidden mental image picture in mind (reactive mind or out-of-sight mind) containing pain and unconsciousness FN Floating Needle - a phenomenon on the E-meter which indicates a process is complete or mass has vanished in the thetans space GUARDIAN OFFICE An external affairs divisions in the Church of Scientology to guard it against attacks from other person's or groups IMPLANT Engram (specialized type of engram intended and used to suppress people covertly) MARKABIAN Member of Markab Confederacy (of various planets of star systems in the region of Polaris) OT Operating Thetan (A Thetan who is at cause over Matter, Energy, Space, Time, Thought and Life - approached on a gradient by doing OT Levels) SP Suppressive Person, one who knowingly and continually tries to reduce awareness, hide the truth, and destroy the dynamics. TECH VOLS Technical Volumes for Auditors III MATERIALS Third level of OT. Freedom from a terrible catastrophe that took place 75 million years ago 1.1. Level of spiritual tone scale referring to covert hostility At a Tribe Meeting, we might invite someone with this kind of speech pattern to consider exploring his feelings about dark-side forces conspiring against him. L. Ron Hubbard (1911-1986) Developer of Scientology, originally Dianetics I have lived no cloistered life and hold in contempt the wise man who has not lived and the scholar who will not share. There have been many wiser men than I, but few have traveled as much road. I have seen life from the top down and the bottom up. I know how it looks both ways. And I know there is wisdom and that there is hope. -- L. Ron Hubbard Ron's transcript at George Washington University's school of engineering shows two years of attendance, six D's and four F's. Clips and information: http://www.rotten.com/library/bio/ religion/cult/l-ron-hubbard/ http://www.ronsorg.org/ tableofcontents/sector9/goft.htm
Thu, 12 Jan 2006 Correction Hi Ed. You may want this correction. At the very bottom of the "Trading Tribe Process" on your website, you have the sentence: "There is no past of future, just an evolving moment of now." The "of" should probably be "or." It's amusing to me that I know for a fact that the key to life is to stay in the present moment as often as possible, yet my first impression when reading this sentence is to notice a spelling error. Oops :-)	Thank you for the catch.
Fri, 13 Jan 2006 Fundamentalists Seek Reasons Extract: The analyst, who does not know more about the fundamental value of the dollar than the unsuspecting buyer, invents stories. Thus when the dollar goes up, the analyst goes on a search for variables that move in the right direction and that can be linked to the rising dollar, carefully eliminating from the analysis all the other fundamental variables that move in the wrong direction. And so we are told that the strength of the dollar last year was due to interest rate differentials favoring the dollar. The further widening of the current account deficit, which in a previous analysis got centre stage, is carefully dropped from the new analysis. The honest story of why the dollar increased last year is that we simply do not know. But we do not like to admit that we do not know. Our psyche abhors the darkness of ignorance. That is why analysts’ services continue to be demanded. They fulfill a psychological need to understand. Exchange rate economics these days satisfies this need by telling a new story each time the dollar goes up or down. - Financial Times Do you think that the trend follower benefits from the fundamentalists efforts in ways they can't imagine? Clip: http://news.ft.com/cms/s/165f8838-839c-11da-9017-0000779e2340.html	The market is the best analyst - it computes the price, in real time, at the interface between supply and demand. Attempts by individuals to outguess the market may be evidence of arrogance, useful mostly as entry points to TTP. The Best Price Discovery Computer Clip: http://www.rosenblatt-sf.com/Selected_Photos/The%20Market,%20Kalaw,%20Myanmar%20(02012004)%20154.jpg
Wed, 11 Jan 2006 Finds Another Form by looking for Opposites. Wanted to share some experiences I've had at my two recent tribe meetings. Last month, for the first time, we use the freeze and hold technique, where the person on the hot seat holds the point of maximum intensity for as long as possible. I was working through my long-standing tight shoulder form and found that experiencing the maximum intensity point led to a much calmer zero point. Makes sense to me, since one of the differences I've discovered between DIM vs. TTP is the extremely heightened intensity I achieve in TTP. At our most recent meeting, our process manager asks the question "What is the opposite of that?" i.e. when in a form, he would ask what is the opposite feeling/form. While on the hotseat, I experienced a variety of forms including my favorite hunched-over, tight shoulder form. I try some of the opposite forms but didn't receive any AHA's. However, I do reach a peaceful zero-point. The next day, I keep asking myself, what is the opposite? when have I experienced the opposite? Eureka!!! I realize the opposite of being hunched over with tight neck, shoulder, and back muscles is standing tall with an elongated spine and with shoulders and chest open. It is also a difference between feeling small and invisible and being visible. Most importantly, I discover my ultimate judge, which is the fear of being blamed for a bad/horrible outcome. A result of my ultimate judge has been an inability to take full and complete responsibility for all my actions. If I don't take responsibility, then I can't be blamed for the outcome. For my trading, it has meant procrastinating on what I know needs to be done, and it also results in occasional extremely undisciplined periods. Since this major AHA, I've found myself taking full responsibility for my work and no longer procrastinating. The desire to be impulsive and embark on an undisciplined spree is also gone. I no longer fear taking full responsibility for my actions towards achieving my goals, visions, and dreams. Thanks to my tribe members for sharing their willingness, wisdom, insights, and their support!	Thank you for sharing your process. In the Causal Model: success is knowing whom to blame for your failures. In the System Model: Success is a matter of everyone taking full responsibility for the result. Clip: http://www.kotaku.com/ gaming/images/blame.jpg
Wed, 11 Jan 2006 Anti-Spam Measures As an anti-spam measure, all email addresses on this website are written with a hash symbol ('#') instead of an '@' symbol. Please copy email addresses into your email program and replace the '#' with '@'. For example myaddress#aol.com ==> myaddress@aol.com.	On the Directory Page, Tribe addresses appear in a .doc file, to thwart web crawlers. You might consider taking your feelings about spam, germs and other types of invasions to your Tribe as entry points.
Wed, 11 Jan 2006 Husband and Wife Attend Tribe 50% More Bliss Happy New Year, Chief. In the absence of our esteemed local tribe leader, I volunteer to host our latest tribe meeting. My wife decides to attend and gets a great feel for the process and how well it works. She takes a hot seat and reaches some aha's during the meeting and over the next couple of days. Several relationships improve around the household. I ask one of our newer members to be the process leader for my hot seat. He does a good job, and I surface some pretty deep stuff. At what I think is the end of the hot seat, another tribe member notes that I am not at the zero point. So I ask her to take over as process leader, and I am able to surface even more deep stuff. With the tremendous support of the tribe, I establish the identity of the judge that sits on top of many of my forms throughout a year of TTP. I reach the aha that this judge, a pain near my stomach (always in the same place), is the feeling of the fear of social rejection. With a bit more work, I identify the opposite feeling and display a silly dance form. The polarity process does its trick. I arrive at another aha that my fear of social rejection discourages me from finishing my trading system, because when I finish the system, I will start up a fund, which heavily involves working with many other people and the possibility for extensive social rejection. This is a major aha for me and represents the culmination of months of TTP. I feel a strong motivation to write the correlation filter for my portfolio management software rather than continuing to procrastinate. Over the next few days, with just a couple pages of code, I improve the bliss function for my system under development by 50%. That is, this enhancement, plus a couple of money management tweaks, enables me to achieve a 50% higher return for the same level of risk (max drawdown). I am writing to thank all of my tribe members for being so supportive and doing such a good job of receiving and of process leadership. We agree during checkout that a change of scenery and a change of process leaders (even within the same hot seat) can lead to new aha's and help tribe members get "unstuck". Other tribes might want to try it out.	Thank you for sharing your process. Productivity Tends to Increase as you untie your k-nots. Clip: http://www.vorne.com/images/ sidebar-photos/profits-rising-productivity.jpg
Tue, 10 Jan 2006 Tribe is Full Mr. Seykota, I just read your book today and it really clicked. I have had a good amount of success in trading and in life, but I feel that I am not living up to my potential. The tribe in [City] is full but I would really like to learn more about the process and experience it firsthand. Is it too late to sign up for the workshop? If not, please let me know as soon as possible so I can make arrangements to get out to Reno. Thank you.	If the Tribe in your area is full, you can start your own, maybe ask the existing Tribe to cross-pollinate with you to get you up and running.
Mon, 9 Jan 2006 Now	Well, it's about time.
Fri, 6 Jan 2006 Interesting Quote Ed, This quote I feel that you will enjoy. I commit to SVO-p and will use any help with this. The future is much like the present, only longer. - Dan Quisenberry	I don't know how Dan can know anything about the non-existing future from direct personal experience. Bunnies Stay Alive by doing it now. Bunnies who wait to do it in the future are soon relics of the past.
Thu, 05 Jan 2006 Serial Cheater - Likes Lots of Women Dear Ed, Appreciate your comments. I am in a long term relationship with a beautiful, caring, sexy, intelligent, fun young woman - she is the total package. She wants to marry me, but I am a serial cheater, which she does not know. I like my closest friends, but I would never want to experience the deep friendship we share with only one. In the same way, I like women, and the thought of having sex and raising kids and laughing and loving and sharing a bed with only one puzzles and disturbs me. I think my failure to commit to monogamy may come down to my inability to experience intimacy with women, or perhaps a desire to not feel embarrassed. At many points in my youth I can remember getting teased by my father and peers when I told them I liked a girl. I also felt pain and frustration when my often awkward and quixotic attempts to open up to a girl and explain my affection was met with rejection. In college I realized that I was attractive to most women and there was no reason to feel awkward. I chuckle sometimes because now I would never consider dating many of the girls that I earlier pined for. When I envision a perfect world, I would have 3 or 4 wives, simultaneously. This is the sort of relationship to which I want to commit. I am frustrated that American society frowns upon such relationships, but frankly, I don't really care that much what others think about my actions any more. I do not want to hurt my girlfriend whom I love very much, who herself is the granddaughter of a man how had five wives.	Your issues are cheating and hurting your girlfriend. Desire for multiple partners may indicate fear of intimacy. You might consider taking your feelings about telling the truth, hurting people and being intimate to your Tribe as entry points. Multiple Partners The Photo-Shoot Plan These people likely have little to do with each other except pose for publicity photos. Multiple Partners The Baby-Factory Plan These people produce lots of kids, and get lots of notoriety and attention from authority figures. Clips: http://utopianpolygamy.tripod.com/ sitebuildercontent/jpg/ Heffner_Mansion_Game http://www.ridiculopathy.com/ news_detail.php?id=962
Thu, 05 Jan 2006 Pentecostalism Chief Ed, Certain practices in Pentecostalism feature the manifestation of forms, trance states, and cheering. While TTP and Pentecostal practice clearly have more differences than similarities, please comment on this observation and list any additional similarities that exist (if any) between TTP and Pentecostal practice in your view.	Pentecostalism, like many religions, indicates the possibility of future redemption. TTP holds the non-existing past and future as myths. You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you (Acts 1:8) - a key text for Pentecostalism. Football features the manifestation of forms, trance states and cheering. And, it's typically more fun than a hot seat session. Clip: http://www.athensnotsparta.com/ images/cheering_for_you.jpg
Thu, 05 Jan 2006 Wants to Know the Top 3 Chief Ed, In your estimation, which of these new TTP items are the top 3 most useful new concepts in terms of advancing the work? How to stay on task as Receiver - dealing with interruption. In public receive, in Tribe, manage the process with permission. How to attain the Unconscious Zero Point. Depression (and other psychological terms) are not feelings. Relationships: sharing a form of intimacy avoidance / or creating magic. How to freeze a form and surf the edge. Instant Remote Effect - a function of re-framing & also magic. Intimacy comes from intentional closeness, not weak boundaries. How to empower others and accept empowerment. The role of telling the truth in TTP. TTP requires willingness - it is not a cure for un-willingness. How to conduct the Speed Snapshots process. How to accept and acknowledge criticism. Snapshot properties: the mode / the commitment / the essence. Snapshot creation as a group process. How to interface TTP with Breathwork. Converting Context to Content. The essential role of willingness as a way to overcome considerations.	In TTP we favor the Systemic Model, in which everything is responsible and intentions = results. In the Causal (fundamentalist) Model something gets to be the cause. You might consider taking your feeling of wanting to find the reason to your tribe as an entry point. If you take away all the organs except the most useful top three you pretty much take away the whole organism. Clip: http://www.medgadget.com/archives/ img/revealed_endocrine.jpg
Thu, 5 Jan 2006 Trading Tribe in Prison I will be going to prison within the year. I would like to start a Trading Tribe in prison.	Excellent. Let me know if you want some help. In TTP we hold that violence is what we do when we are unable to experience anger. In prison, inmates express sadness at their own peril as it demonstrates weakness - anger at their own peril as it may result in lockdown. Prison Institutionalizing Unwillingness to Experience Feelings Clip: http://content.answers.com/main/ content/wp/en/thumb/c/c9/250px-Prison.jpg
Wed, 4 Jan 2006 Results hello Ed, just wanted to give some numbers and to show that I held on to my rules and it worked :-) Profit Loss {All closed securities}: $3841.58 Trade with Max Gain for Portfolio : $2828.22 Trade with Max Loss for Portfolio : $-417.00 Total Trades : 86 Wins to Losses : 16:70 Total Dollar Gain : $13105.37 Total Dollar Loss : $-9263.79 Average Gain : $819.09 Average Loss : $-132.34 Max Risk Multiple : 23.79 Min Risk Multiple : -5.66 Average Gain/Loss per trade : $44.67 Max Consecutive Wins : 3 Max Consecutive Losses : 19 The profits took some time to come, but it did come :-)	Thank you for sharing your process.
Tue, 03 Jan 2006 Illusion Dear Ed Thank you for the Trading Tribe work you do. I receive the following illusion from an old college friend living in Brisbane. Happy New Year to you and you family If you watch the below images from your seat in front of the computer, Mr. Angry is on the top and Mrs. Calm is on the bottom. Get up from your seat, and move back 12 feet, and PRESTO!! they switch places!! I believe this illusion was created by Phillippe G.Schyns and Aude Oliva of the Univ. of Glasgow. This proves that we may not be seeing what's actually there, all the time!!	Cool Illusion ! This man is Smiling ... ... well, maybe not. Clip: http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~farid/ illusions/face.html
Tue, 03 Jan 2006 Trading Tribe Workshop Dear Ed, I look forward to learning how to apply TTP in relationships and all the new materials you list on the website. In addition, for the last year or so (particular recent months) I have been really bothered about searching for right livelihood. I keep wondering what I really want to do in my life, and along with it a fear of what if I am not good in anything. I just turned 27 a couple of weeks ago and I am feeling increasing pressure or else my life will be wasted. I can't find a snapshot that resonates with me, and I'm a little bit annoyed of seemingly going nowhere. I take it to the hot seat several times in our local tribe, and I guess each time I inch a little bit closer (the first time I feel about how taking responsibility (or my wiggling out of) stands as an obstacle; the second time my frustrating experience leads me to the idea that perhaps everything happens for a reason; the third time it is back to intention=results, that all else doesn't matter much as long as there is a genuine intention), yet I'm not satisfied. I don't know what is my intention or how to make it clear, or what kind of feelings I am avoiding, or maybe it is just another form of "trying to figure out" or "trying to exert control (my life)." I wholeheartedly appreciate any help you can provide. Many thanks.	Discovering right livelihood is a group process.
Sun, 1 Jan 2006 Happy New Year! Greetings Ed, I wish you and your family a healthy and successful new year!	Thank you.
Sun, 1 Jan 2006 Breathwork Commitment Support Team, Please find attached an estimate/pro-forma and contract for the first "cost plus" contract (and only contract) that I have signed since the breath work weekend. Normally I sign contracts on a monthly basis, and the average is $250,000.00+, so this one seems small, but it is consistent with my commitment. I have bid on many jobs of larger scale since the workshop, some which I later had a "gut feeling" that they were not right for me and I backed out, and others I almost signed a contract on, but then the homeowner lost their job or at the last minute decided to sell and buy new instead of remodeling. In hindsight all of these things have happened for a reason, though at the time the loss of potential income was not appealing. I learn everyday to go with what feels right, and to trust my instincts, though it is directly contrary to what I have done in the past. I have in the last six months experienced a life time of emotions that I have been unwilling to feel. This has created some very stressful, yet positive results as I move toward right livelihood. I am committed now more than ever to the process, my tribe and realize that while it has been the most difficult time of my life, I am a better person for it. Thank you all for your time, and your support.	Thank you for sharing your process.
Sun, 1 Jan 2006 Breathwork Commitment: January Update Hello Breathwork Support Team! As of the 1st day of January, 2006, I report total assets under management as $366,000. December is a positive month for my trading program. I raise no new assets in December. I continue to talk to an outside firm about raising between $1 million and $5 million for my program. Part of the process involves me putting together a fund (commodity pool), as I currently only manage individual accounts. I plan to structure the fund this month. I plan to incept it with at least $250,000 of personal and current client assets, plus about $1 million in assets from the brokerage firm. I intend to do whatever it takes to raise $5 million in assets for my trading program. Thank you for your continued support.	Thank you for sharing your process.
Sun, 1 Jan 2006 Works Through Anger Dear Ed, I just realized that you quoted me in your book on page 127! I was reading and was thinking ... this sounds familiar! Then I jumped up and had the biggest smile on my face. I have been reverting backwards for much of 2005 thinking and feeling anger and depression about what my past employer put me through, however since I have been reading the book I am feeling better. I am coming to the workshop with some good power and energy now! I already received one e-mail about the [City] Tribe and that gave me a boost also. Hopefully no more DIM for me. No! Definitely no more DIM! I will ask to visit [City] or other near bye Tribe and get this done! What a great start to 2006! Happy and Profitable New Year to you and the Tribes!	Thank you for sharing your process.
Sun, 1 Jan 2006 Music and Testing Hi Ed, I just want to say that I enjoy my life more after Breathwork as enjoying is my focus now. It is a huge revelation to really acknowledge how much the past was affecting my everyday life in the present. I enjoy now. I am testing some of my trading ideas, trading and playing music a lot. I am playing tonight nine original songs in front of about 200 people and my son is playing with his band for the same party. There is my wife with me. Yes, I am enjoying. Ed, all the best to you and yours.	Thank you for sharing your process.
Sun, 1 Jan 2006 Learning C# Hi Ed, The Breathwork weekend is a very positive experience for me. Everyone attending the Breathwork weekend has a very strong commitment to the work and is very supportive of one another. Before the Breathwork, I make very little progress in my desire to learn how to program. I experience frustration and anger when I work on my programming lessons. I dislike these feelings, so I put off my work and get very little done. After the breathing, I make a commitment to complete every exercise in a C# textbook and to complete every tutorial in Ed's Trading System Project. Making this commitment feels great. What seems so hard to accomplish before the Breathwork, now seems easy. I feel a tremendous amount of energy within me to accomplish my commitment. Tribe members take responsibility for helping me achieve this commitment. This is an incredible feeling to have the support of an exceptional group of people. Since the Breathwork, I work daily on learning how to program. It feels good to make progress towards completing my commitment. I wake up each morning with definite purpose and I know what needs to be done. I thank all tribe members for their support. Thank you Ed for hosting a wonderful weekend.	Thank you for sharing your process.
Sun, 1 Jan 2006 Breathwork Follow Up Hi Ed, I am writing to follow up on the Breathwork weekend held on December 2-4. I am finding the experience to be very profound and I notice significant changes in the following areas: Awareness I seem better able to process my feelings in real time. Where I used to react to situations, I find that I am now able to receive the feelings of others, acknowledge my own feelings, and use that information in how I respond. I am also very aware of when I feel something that seems out of sorts. It is in those situations that I know to back off and reflect. If reflection offers no insights, then it is a feeling I want to take to my tribe. Focus My intention in attending the Breathwork was to work on a particular issue. The issue relates to getting my commodity pool up and running. Before I was experiencing much negativity and discouragement that I created on my own. Now I find that I am very focused and both willing and excited to learn from all the advances and setbacks I know I will encounter. Clarity I am experiencing much greater clarity in my life in general. Decisions seem much easier to make. Whether a decision gets me closer or further away from my values seems readily apparent. What I need to do to achieve right livelihood seems readily apparent. My expectations are more realistic. All this unfolds in the moment of now, where I seem to spend more and more of my time. TTP and Breathwork are indeed very compatible. However, I am not certain the Breathwork would be nearly as effective without my exposure to TTP. Thanks for sharing your knowledge. Happy New Year	Thank you for sharing your process.
Sun, 1 Jan 2006 Happy New Year & Benefits of TTP Hi Ed, Earlier this month you asked that the Breathwork participants send you a note about the cumulative benefits of TTP. It is nearly three years now since I started my own Tribe and I figure that between that, Incline Village, Reno Workshops and pollinating with Tribes in other cities, I have participated in several hundred hot seats. Below, I write of the benefits of our work. (other than the benefits of having an engaging, stunning wife, three healthy kids who know their dad and the fact that I am doing exactly what I want to do every day in running my hedge fund) MY CUMULATIVE BENEFITS OF TTP With TTP, adversaries turn into allies. Adversarial thoughts, feelings, judgments, people, places and things seem to melt under the light, warmth and tireless, ruthless honesty of the TTP process to reveal powerful allies. I have witnessed many examples but an experience of my own will help illustrate this best. I am a very sensitive person. This sensitivity has often made me appear very insensitive as I chose to coldly ignore most anything that might make me feel. In my mind, sensitivity was bad, wimpy, not like everyone else and time consuming! Through TTP, I now truly appreciate the tremendous power and richness of my sensitivity. I develop deep connections with people that seem to belong in my life and I allow others to come and go. Also, where previously, the idea of always being aware seemed tiring, I now find that heightened awareness is free, honest and clear. I find myself appreciating the grain in wood or the warmth in my body or the feeling in my head as I progress through challenging problems. Prior to TTP, I would often apply logic to finding clarity. Surely, after I apply 10, 12 or 30 steps I would find clarity! Now, I accept clarity without logical reasons. Funny enough, once I am clear, the logic just seems to show up! If this does not make sense, I hope you enjoy the process of puzzling over it. :) I am more adaptable and eager to explore, experiment and get my hands dirty. Criticism has become curiosity as my open mind is basking in the light of many interesting questions rather than locked in judgment. I will question anybody on anything. Rather than judging this as rude or cocky, I simply feel engaged. Finally, I am meeting some of the most incredible, supportive and interesting people through my participation with the Tribe. I am unable to put into words what it is that I see and feel in everyone that participates in TTP. However, there is something that has given me strong faith in the goodness of people while also appreciating the power that feelings have over them. TTP works. Stick with it everyone. I am here with all the Tribe to support its growth and development.	Excellent! Thank you for sharing your process. The Venus Fly Trap features a confirmation signal The leaves have touch-sensitive hairs that trigger the hinge-trap. The hairs respond only to the second touch event. Clip: http://www.misu.nodak.edu/ digitald/joel/Venus-Fly-Trap-comp.jpg
Sun, 1 Jan 2006 Another Chicago Tribe Dear Chief Ed, Please list the Northwest Chicago Trading Tribe in your directory.	Welcome Chicago Illinois
Sun, 1 Jan 2006 The Naked Truth Dear Ed, Every time I see nude or semi-nude pictures on your FAQ, I have the tendency to hide it under or above the screen. Help! Thanks for helping me to constantly improve myself.	You might consider taking your feelings about nudity to your tribe as an entry point. As People Grow Up and Develop k-nots they have trouble with exposing bodies and thoughts and feelings
Sun, 1 Jan 2006 Simple Phrases Ed, I was just thinking how in a huge number of subjects very simple phrases seem to make sense at every level of their practice. These phrases often make more sense the higher level you reach and the simplicity seems more and more impressive. For example, in a martial art I practice the Cantonese words for "let go" are often used to release muscles and thoughts in order to maximize power. This makes sense for the most junior student and makes enormous sense for the Master. In opera singing students are often taught to sing from the belly and the head and nowhere in between. This is a phrase that makes as much sense to the amateur as it does to Pavarotti. In trading the simplicity and wisdom of "just follow the trend" carries with it enormous clarity and has made new levels of sense to me as I progress with trading. As I'm sure it makes great sense to highly accomplished traders. In many areas simple phrases seem to have varying levels of truth and wisdom that adjust their profundity to the level of the student. Do you have any thoughts on this?	In programming, this references its own habitat.
Sat, 31 Dec 2005 Fort Pierce Tribe I am starting a new tribe in Ft. Pierce.	Welcome Fort Pierce Florida
Sun, 1 Jan 2006 Proclamation for 2006 I intend to spend a lot of time with the essential tribe, my family, and my friends. I foresee again a year with a few superb trending markets, as there are in nearly every year, and intend to ride them for maximum profit for my family, friends and myself. I intend to stay healthy and to follow my feelings, wherever they lead me. I intend to spend a lot of time outdoors to study the wonderful nature around us and to learn more from it to master the tao.	OK.
Sun, 1 Jan 2006 Review / Proclamation Hi Ed, My '05 proclamation is EAT LESS, EXERCISE MORE, TRADE WELL. I now notice there is no subject in the proclamation. In '05 I address the issues of commitment, willingness, accountability, cynicism and many others on the hot seat. A few more layers of the onion peel back as I continue to improve as a husband, father, friend and trader. I show positive results on all my '05 proclamation areas and I still have more work to do. '06 Proclamation I COMMIT TO A HEALTHY DIET, REGULAR EXERCISE AND TO TRADE WELL. I intend to honor and work toward my FIT snapshot. Happy New Year!	OK.
Sun, 1 Jan 2006 Review of 2005 Resolutions for 2006 1) I do have a few intense emotional breakthroughs and many small ones. I receive and send in public, most of the time in the so-called socially acceptable manner. Sending in public is riskier but it works anyway (interestingly, I figured out that a lot of it which I regarded previously as bad is actually ok or even rewarded) 2) This is the toughest of them all. I realize that I still have problems with going through the hard work of learning programming and developing my system. I have not completed this task (start to professionally manage money), however I am making progress with programming and I also reach out for help. I also notice that I need to break down big problems into smaller ones and ask myself more questions to clarify complicated issues. 3) This definitely is working. I get in touch with my feelings which help me express my needs and my limits. I also am less reluctant of being responsible for other peoples feelings, I feel ok with rejecting people (this was a major issue) and understand that I can be rejected whilst taking personal risks too. I manage to rejoice close family members big time; my sister can't stop admiring me for my patience in listening to other people's feelings 4) I have this little system of mine that gets me going. Feeling hesitant is actually a signal to push myself harder. The more I do not want to train the better I actually do on the trainings and the better I feel afterwards. This works so and I do not need to motivate myself with thoughts on aggression and fighting to feel the vibe. 5) I am proud of myself for staying on task. People around me look up to me and admire my strong will. I am happy to be a role model in this, actually, my aunt and uncle quit after many decades of smoking. 6) This works for me too. I notice the relationships with family at the start were difficult, but I manage to make my point about what I expect of them and how I wish to be treated. This always gets me into a short-term drawdown, however, I eventually get what I want and feel more willing to accept their demands also. 7) Having fun (or rather not having fun) in the common sense is still an issue here. I catch myself feeling blue after a great party or not willing to participate in silly conversations with friends. Nevertheless, I feel good on my own and now I am searching for ways to have fun during the work. I manage my own small account. I make a fortunate 57% return with a 5-6% drawdown. Most importantly, I really go with the flow without any strain. I risk a lot less than in the past, the trades just tickle me as the market unfolds its trend. I notice how other traders have a fit over the "markets behavior" - this is not me anymore, I notice great progress. I hereby announce my year 2006 resolutions: 1) I want to be a great trader (trend follower) and I want to be rich (I notice how I am committed to this many years ago and now I am cranking it up) 2) Continue with my 2005 commitments with biggest emphasis on finishing my system and managing client money (actually, I want this done in the first half of the year). 3) I want to be more intimate with my surrounding. I want to find and keep a woman with whom I become very close and build a magical "feel-understand" relationship. If this means shagging around during the search, well, that's fine with me…hey, I sound a bit equivocal…let's just find out what happens 4) I want to feel that "working hard can be fun". I want to master the ability to effectively start and finish essential tasks. 5) I want to gracefully show the world the best of me 6) I want to have fun and stop taking everything so damn seriously Thank you and have a great year!	OK.