|
January 15 - 31, 2006
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Questions
(Quotes
from Ed in Red)
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Answers |
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Tue, 31 Jan 2006
What Up With Google
I notice the stock currently trading around 360, down from
about 435 overnight, down from about about 475 earlier this month. How
can an earnings report cause such a big sell-off. |
In the Causal Model, disappointing
earnings "cause" a 20% sell-off in the stock price.
In the System model, you look for
evidence of a shift in the intention of the culture, such as buying toys,
turning the job of keeping the corporate ethics over to management and
compromising the company motto.
In the Trend Following model, you simply
notice the long-term trend is still up and the short-term trend is sideways
to down and you follow your system.

Brin, 32 and Page, 32
and Schmidt, 51 in the Middle
Google recently interprets
the
company's mottos:
Don't be Evil
and
Facilitate Information for the Entire World
as
a decision to support Chinese censorship.

The Google Jet
If
you have to stretch your mottos a bit
at
least you can
buy
nice toys
and
fly in style
Clips:
www.cbsnews.com/.../
main637116_popup0_2.shtml
http://www.googlefans.net/blog/article.asp?id=267
Google Philosophy:
http://www.google.com/
corporate/tenthings.html |
|
Tue, 31 Jan 2006
Tribe Meeting
Feedback
(Can't Get No) Satisfaction
Hot Seat: I often feel under-whelmed, like "I can't get no satisfaction" by
experiences and have a history of feeling so. I speak of running marathons,
then upping the ante to mini-triathlons, then again to full length Iron-man
triathlons. Each event produces the same result: a brief sense of
accomplishment for finishing, but an overwhelming and continuing sense of
"that was no big deal, in fact now I am feeling kind of let down by having
finished it."
The process
manager encourages me to get into this feeling, but the "feeling" does not
produce a form. In general, through my limited experience with TTP, I find
that when I describe a "feeling", it does not have a noticeable physical
form attached to it.
The process manager notices I am mainly in my head, so he encourages me to
race my thoughts. I race my thoughts about my trading, about the next big
event, etc. The Field of Encouragement helps immensely at this point --
however, they do not know they are being so effective because I am not
producing noticeable forms. I quickly lose the "racing" in my mind and
remain "in my head" for the remainder of my Hot Seat session. This
frustrates me.
Perhaps I am not willing? I feel I am willing by my actions: purchasing Ed
Seykota's book, reading it twice, dissolving some prior "Seykota drama" that
I had, paying for and attending the January 2006 TTP Workshop, and
committing to attendance at the IVTT.
However, I feel
as if something might be wrong with me because I do not experience any
reality-shattering AHA's like I eagerly read about.
So far I remain in
my head primarily, yet I feel my intention is to peel back the layers of the
onion" with the assistance and support of the IVTT.
Snapshot Process: Ed shares his initial snapshot and then reworks it and
re-presents it. He says (paraphrasing), "It was the same snapshot for me. It
is amazing how much different this second one looks." The level of clarity
and communication with his second effort was multiples more effective. This
progression is fascinating to experience. |
Thank you for sharing your process.
You might consider taking your feelings
of discouragement to your Tribe as entry points.

Peggy Lee
has
a difficult start to her life,
losing her mother by the age of four
and
having to endure both
an
alcoholic father and an abusive stepmother throughout the rest of her
pre-adult years.
She
is famous for her rendition of
Is
That All There Is?
SPEAK:
And when I was 12 years old,
my father took me to the circus,
the greatest show on earth.
There were clowns and elephants
and dancing bears
And a beautiful lady in pink tights
flew high above our heads.
And as I sat there watching the marvelous spectacle
I had the feeling that something was missing.
I don't know what,
but when it was over,
I said to myself,
"Is that all there is to a circus?"
SING:
Is that all there is,
is that all there is?
If that's all there is my friends,
then let's keep dancing
Let's break out the booze
and have a ball
If that's all
there is?
Clip:
http://www.jimbaileyweb.com/
news/peggy%20lee%20in%20red.jpg |
|
Date: Tue, 31 Jan
2006
Typos
Ed,
A proper name made it into the most recent page of FAQ.
Also, in the last sentence of the snapshot definition in the glossary there
is a "d" that needs to be removed.
I am interested in attending a TTP workshop. |
Thank you for the catch. |
|
Tue, 31 Jan 2006
January 2006
TTP Workshop Feedback
Coming into the Workshop my expectations are high. Good friends of mine
report significant positive changes in their lives from doing the work. I
read Ed Seykota's book twice and am very open to the technology. During the
workshop I work as a process manager, receiver, and sender (Hot Seat).
Process Manager: I managed the process for a new friend in our mini-tribe.
Earlier during the Snapshot process he feels frustration because he realizes
he does not have a clear idea of what he wants. Downstairs during a break, I
speak with him in private and tell him it is okay that he is unclear; that
that in itself is possibly a good starting point, and that I support him in
being unclear. For the Hot Seat he says he is hot about his personal
finances, and is very willing to experience his feelings through forms. I
ask him a couple of questions to lead him into the feelings, and immediately
he produces easily recognizable forms. I feel exhilaration as I see him work
through his knot(s) -- I feel connected to him as my process managing
produces immediate results in terms of forms. Once finished he reports
feeling exhaustion and peaceful. During his checkout he said he felt I was a
top-notch process manager. His feedback made me feel great as I doubted my
abilities as an effective process manager.
Receiver: I receive several of my TTP Workshop mates. During some sessions I
feel hot about the same issue, or just hot about being at the Workshop
(attending is a strong statement of my commitment level -- thinking of this
produces slight tears in my eyes). A couple of times I cry while receiving;
it feels so good to know I help my fellow Tribe mates through their knots.
Sender (Hot Seat): I experience some apprehension to bare it all, to really
let loose. My friend brings his fiancé to the Workshop and she is attractive
and pleasant. More to the point is we are part of the same mini-tribe, and I
feel myself not wanting to "make a scene" in front of her (I am also aware
of my feeling of being really concerned with what others think of me so I
add it to my already very long list of possibly TTP entry points). Earlier
that day during the Snapshot Process her fiancé said he felt I may be
"numb". I feel somewhat offended by this observation and use it as my entry
point. I get into a couple of forms, but they are mostly subtle. Afterward I
feel a mild sense of relief, but no major AHA's. In fact, overall I am
concerned because others seem to be getting significantly more out of their
Hot Seats than I. I read about life-turnarounds and break-through AHA's and
I wonder what I am doing wrong.
General Comments:
(1) I liken the Field of Encouragement to waking up in the hospital after
having surgery. I feel much love and support from my family and friends as
they welcome me back from my anesthesia-induced sleep. They ask how I am
doing and how I am feeling and fully receive my answer.
(2) Participating in a Hot Seat is similar to completing a marathon or other
similar significant physical feat. It is difficult to conceptualize before
you actually participate in it. Too, once you are through, you feel a sense
of expansion with your boundaries & limitations; like you have been
somewhere further with yourself than you have ever been before.
(3) I feel emotional and teary-eyed when Ed talks about TTP in prisons, his
daughter, what usually happens to helpful movements when they become large
institutions, and parenting. I see a side to Ed that I did not know existed.
Thank you ... for sharing at the January 2006 TTP Workshop. And thank you to
all my fellow participants for sharing so much with me.
|
Thank you for sharing your process. |
|
Tue, 31 Jan 2006
Realizing How
To Do It
I'm a student from [Country], trying to understand human behavior. I read
your thoughts about the interaction of the unconsciousness and the conscious
mind and realized how to vitally improve my life.
thank you a lot. |
Thank you for sharing your process. |
|
Tue, 31 Jan 2006
Workshop in
London
Ed,
When do you plan to give a workshop in London.
I want to attend.
|
I can post a provisional date of, say
July 21, 2006 in England (or Germany) and see if anyone signs up.
Perhaps you can suggest a site for the
Workshop. |
|
Tue, 31 Jan 2006
re: What Should
I Do
Ed reply: I am not clear which rule of the exercise
forbids marking to the market.
The rule at that seemed important at the time is:
Executions
The system awards trades with 50% skid. That is, it executes buy orders on
the open at a price half-way between the open and the high of the day. It
executes sell orders at a price half-way between the open and the low of the
day.
Now looking forward the Breakout system example, it explicitly states:
The system exits the final trade at the average of the final closing price
and the worst price of the day.
So the exp moving address system doesn’t have a rule about the last close
but issues a marked to market closing step, and the breakout system has a
last trade rule about marking to market INDEPENDENT of the actual trading
signals being used. Acting on marked to market values could cause one to
violate a follow your system rule.
I now think my care about this is pretty irrelevant. But this did and does
make me wonder what the role marked to market values play when a system
actually only trades on signals which create the realized value. The marked
to market value is unrealized and it seems it is irrelevant if the trading
system has stops in place and the price hasn’t gapped those stops in a limit
up or limit down day(s), i.e. the stops are still very active. I am thinking
portfolio money management will use marked to market to help
determine portfolio risk in total and also perhaps change positions
independent of signals and I am looking forward to this topic. Please keep
them coming!
-----
Lastly, I was wondering what your thoughts might be on the
differences/similarities of TTP and “Stopping your internal dialogue” and
transcendental mediation, both of which can allow you to observe your k-nots
firsthand, I think, although not having experienced TTP I am speculating at
what a k-not is at this time.
From what little I know, un-hatched turtles seem more at risk than
un-hatched chickens if you include making it to water as part of the
hatching process. This turtle walk to water part seems analogous to
slippage! Nice catch, er difference.
Regards,
p.s. as a cancer patient undergoing chemotherapy, I just wanted to
say Thanks again. You don’t know it but your website has provided me hours
and hours of thought. These hours help me pass the rigors of
chemotherapy, and believe me this is a real meaningful and valuable
contribution on your part. I have never traded a single contract, but I
really like reading your words, especially the risk management piece.
|
Marking to the market is a way to
evaluate the portfolio in the moment of now.
Your "will use" notion seems to inhabit
the non-existing future.
-----
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi is the founder of
Transcendental Mediation - and old friend of Beatle, George Harrison.
To the extent TM practitioners attempt
to use it to stop the mind, they may be yielding to judgment about the
proper way for a mind to behave.
In TTP, when we encounter a sender with
a racing mind, we encourage him to allow it to race even faster.
-----
You might consider taking your feelings
about cancer to a Tribe meeting as an entry point.
Perhaps you might form a Hospital Tribe
with other patients.

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
His
site claims that
you
must learn TM technique
personally. from a certified teacher
and
that you cannot learn it
from a book, video or audio tape.

Along with Pills and Chemotherapy
hospitals might consider administering
a
healing field of acknowledgment.
Clips:
http://www.tm.org/maharishi/index.html
http://www.highpointregional.com/ourservices/
centers/cancercenter/cancer-patient.jpg
|
|
Mon, 30 Jan 2006
Another New
York Tribe
Dear Ed,
My intention is to feel my feelings and support others in feeling theirs, in
a way consistent with my experience of your teachings from the Reno
Workshop. I intend to start a new New York Tribe. Can you please add me to
the directory? Thanks. |

Welcome
New York
City |
|
Mon, 30 Jan 2006
Jan 2006 TTP
Workshop -
Judgment and
Acknowledgment
Dear Ed,
As a participant at the January ’06 Workshop I will like to offer my
thoughts, observations & experiences.
Firstly, let me say that all workshop attendees (bar none) were genuinely
supportive & caring. So thank you to all for your help & support. It is an
honor to be amongst you.
This has given me an appreciation of how this process cannot possibly work
without supportive members.
I understand
now what is meant by the ‘non-judgemental field of acknowledgement’. It’s
one thing to read about this in a book and quite another to actually
experience it.
Anyway . . . I digress,
My own experience is that of a newbie who hadn’t really had much tribe
experience & who had never done a proper hotseat at this own tribe, not
because of not wanting to but more-so because of not knowing exactly how to
go about it.
I now have a much better appreciation of the process and how to go about
implementing it. It will be interesting to see how our local tribe evolves.
Before I briefly describe my hotseat experience, let me first say that in my
own life I have tended to be somewhat independent & have always preferred to
do things by myself.
With respect to TTP, this kind of attitude will not bring meaningful results
(in my opinion). I know this because at times in my hotseat experience I
reach a point where without tribe member encouragement & help I am unable to
go deeper & deeper into feeling the experience.
I remember many instances where I feel like stopping & going no further. The
relentless validation & spurring on enable me to gain a much fuller
experience.
Once again thank you workshop attendees.
In my own hotseat I get into a form very quickly & find myself wanting to
buckle over & curl up into a small package , which with tribe validation I
am able to do. I remember that I curl up tighter & tighter into a tight ball
& I cover myself up with my shirt pulled up & over the top of my head. I
then begin to cower under a table, almost as if I want to hide from
something / someone. I rock & roll whilst in this ‘ball’ and I think I had
said something or moaned something or had some kind of vocalization.
My tribe
members instantly respond & cheer me on to ‘crank it up’, ‘yell some more’,
‘let it out’ and then, with this encouraging it was then ‘ON’!
I won’t describe the ‘crazy’ acrobatics & movements (both somatic & vocal)
and I definitely won’t describe in detail some of the words I was yelling
(words that aren’t generally used in polite company) but just suffice to say
that the whole experience was very vigorous and intense.
Tribe members ask whether I enjoy the form . . . . I DO NOT!
“Well then, show us the feeling of not enjoying this form” say the tribe
members.
This I am able to do via another new, equally vigorous form. At some point I
am able to enjoy this new form. I am then asked to do my original form & see
if I can enjoy this now. In time I am able to do the original form again &
yes, I am enjoying doing it. I am able to play with it & have some fun with
it. I remember that I smile whilst I do it. It’s not really that bad after
all.
Eventually, I finish up with arms & legs outstretched whilst flat on my
back. I feel smiley-happy & relaxed.
Do I reach a ‘zero-point’?
I don’t really know & I don’t want to put an intellectual label on it, all I
know is that I feel at ease, relaxed & peaceful.
I don’t really have an earth-moving realization or a flash of blinding
insight, but I become aware of a feeling of;
“(stop hiding) . . . . come out into the world”.
It feels good to feel the sensations associated with that statement.
I most definitely move something inside and this is a good first step for
me.
Of course there’s a lot more that went on over the weekend workshop such as
Relationships, Snapshot process, Banjo song (what a cracker!) and other
‘stuff’ So it’s difficult to do justice to the entire workshop in a few
paragraphs but I hope I have at least provided some small idea of part of my
experience.
All in all, a very worthwhile experience for me & a good move by me to
attend.
(*pats self on back*)
Before I sign off . . . . 2 things;
1) Before meeting you Ed, I must admit I was a bit apprehensive (why?, I
don’t know why) but I quickly realized that you’re just like everyone else
in that you have your own issues & your own ‘stuff’ to deal with.
Believe it or not everyone, Ed Seykota is human!
2) One of the more memorable things (for me) about the workshop was an
answer that you provide to a question (and I paraphrase here);
Question: “How can I improve my trading?”
Answer: “ Easy, clean up your personal life”
Had I heard that a couple of years ago I might have said “yeah yeah what’s
that got to do with trading?”
I now realize it’s got everything to do with it.
O.k. Ed, ‘tis time I sign off, so thanks again for your help & guidance over
that weekend and look forward to seeing you again.
(I was going to write “look forward to seeing you again sometime in the
future” but I realized that that is an impossibility . . . . isn't’ it?)
Best regards |
Thank you for sharing your process.

A Field of Acknowledgment
is
essential to untying k-nots
Clip:
http://international.internet2.edu/
images/CLARA-I2-MoU/i2-clara-applause.JPG |
|
Mon, 30 Jan 2006
Daughter Likes
Snapshot
Hi Ed.
Thanks for putting together a great workshop. I particularly appreciate
getting the perspective of multiple presenters on TTP -- everyone picks up
something different.
My biggest takeaway from the workshop is a deeper understanding of the
snapshot process. At our tribe meeting subsequent to the workshop, I develop
an additional snapshot, again involving my daughter in the picture. I draw
it with her art crayons.
She sees it the
next day and gets all excited about her role in it. She draws her own
version and asks me to tell her the story about it again and again. I see
the value of developing snapshots as a group process.
I hope all is well with you and your family and your tribe. |
Thank you for sharing your process.

Father and Daughter
can
share the same vision.
Clip:
http://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/
admissions/images/cim_father_daughter.jpg
|
|
Mon, 30 Jan 2006
Post-Workshop
Doing and Talking
Hi Ed,
Home at last (actually got back last week) from my whirlwind trip to the
U.S. and attendance at the TTP Jan workshop & IV meeting.
Had our local tribe meeting this Saturday just passed and I would like to
report an interesting development.
I had written to you in the past that our tribe likes to 'talk' rather
than 'do' & that we didn't really know how to run a tribe properly.
This was the primary reason for my workshop attendance.
Now that I have gained some idea of how to run a tribe & having attempted to
put it into practice this last Saturday, I find that some tribe members
aren't quite ready to proceed in the 'doing' aspect of TTP (much preferring
the 'talking' aspect) . I suppose this is fine as it's a case of 'each to
their own'.
I, however, am enthusiastic in running a tribe along the lines witnessed at
the workshop and I have spoken to the current tribe leader about this and
have his permission to substitute my details for his in the tribe directory
as being the first point of contact for any queries.
|
Thank you for sharing your process.
You might consider taking your feelings
of others not doing it right to your Tribe as entry points.

Talking is Doing Something
With a little encouragement
talking can light up
and
evolve into a hot form.
Clip:
http://marine.rutgers.edu/~sikes/
sitting%20and%20talking%20(Medium).JPG |
|
Sun, 29 Jan 2006
My Old Snapshot
and Developing a New Snapshot
I continue to work on my new snapshot.
Here is my old snapshot.

A number of things come up reviewing my snapshot and thinking about what I
want.
The main things I want are:
1. Financial independence and security
2. Health and happiness
3. Income to support me that is not dependant on hours worked or my health
or ability to work
4.
Not being subject to others
5.
Meaning to my life
The main things I notice are missing in the old snapshot are:
1. Creativity
2. Building something of value that helps other people 3. Fun (thank you
[Name] for your hot seat)
4. I appear alone
and separate
5. I see myself in
the 3rd person (which is normally a state without a lot of feeling)
6. There isn't
"Meaning" in it
7. It is selfish
and self centered
8. It is about
feeling insecure and wanting to be secure as I get older and handling what I
need for retirement.
9. Children or others to care for me as I am less able to care for myself
10. It is also a setup for being unhappy when I get there.
I notice further:
1. That I have often said: "If I had this current job 5 years ago, I would
be happy with it. Why am I not happy with it now? There really is nothing
about it that is substantially different about it that is different from
what I wanted."
2. I have worked very hard most of my life with goals and desires similar to
my snapshot. I have achieved the house, the cars, the high def TV, etc., and
yet am not happy with what I have achieved. I find problems with those
things and that they all require maintenance.
3. Most of my current unhappiness with my job and relationships and life is
around "Meaning", not the things or events themselves.
4. With my recent health issues and feeling my mortality, I would not be
doing what I am doing if I knew I had 6 months to live. I would be doing it
substantially different if I knew I had 3 years to live. In 14 years, half
the people who were born in the year I was born will be dead. Given my heath
history I'm pretty sure I'm not on a fat tail on this one.
5. As I have achieved a lot of the major goals in my life, and I find myself
in transition as to what to do now. I have a lack of passion and direction
that is common as goals are achieved.
6. I couldn't have done it any different. I couldn't have know the things I
know now when I set the goals I have achieved and I couldn't have known I
would feel like this when I got here. |
Thank you for sharing your process.
We are finding that Snapshot creation is most effective as a group process.
The Snapshot Process, like much of TTP
keeps evolving as we keep finding better ways to do it. Here is how I
currently conduct the Snapshot Process in Incline Village.
Check In
Each member gives a short progress
report and tells how he is feeling now.
Critical Feedback
Present your snapshot in two minutes of
less. Go around the Tribe with everyone getting a minute or two to
tell you his reaction to your snapshot - we call this critical feedback.
Acknowledge the feedback without defending. The next person then
presents his snapshot and gets feedback. Go around so everyone presents and
gets feedback.
Revision #1
When everyone is complete, take a break
during which everyone can re-draw his snapshot.
Repeat Critical Feedback Process
Revision #2
Circle of Champions
Present your snapshot one more time.
This time, each member takes your snapshot and also presents it as if it
were his own. In this way, each member gets to hear the other members
champion his snapshot.
Final Check Out
Each member tells his experience of the
entire process.
We start the snapshot process at 2:00 PM
and end around 5:00 PM. Then we make dinner, eat and start the regular
Tribe Meeting at 7:00 PM. |
|
Sun, 29 Jan 2006
Remove Me
Please remove my
last name from the tribe directory.
I remember
experiencing security problems.
Now I avoid
attracting troublemakers.
Please list my
first name only.
Thank You. |
OK. You are now off the list.
Appearance on the list requires both first and last names.
You might consider taking your feelings
about following rules to your tribe as entry points.

There is no Shortage of Rules.
There is a shortage of people
who
are willing to follow the rules.
As
a rule, people prefer to bail.
Clip:
http://fsae.mae.cornell.edu/gallery/
03competition/follow_the_rules.jpg |
|
Sun, 29 Jan 2006
Judgment Begets Drama
Dear Chief Seykota,
TTP helps me see that judgment and drama go hand in hand; Where one exists,
the other is not far behind. Though I cannot explain it, that is an
observation that I have made repeatedly over the past few months.
It is captured nicely at ...
http://www.zombietime.com/walk_for_life/

Raging Grannies |
Yes.
In our society, we formalize the
repression of - and reinforce judgments about - sexual feelings and
expression.
Societies with sexual k-nots tend to act
out drama in various ways: generation versus suppression of pornography;
culture wars about sexual preferences; involvement of government as
arbitrator of correct behavior.
Individuals with such k-nots tend toward
drama that includes congregation, confrontation, provocation, engagement,
conflict and violence.
People who practice experiencing their
own feelings and receiving the feelings of others tend to find more peaceful
ways.
|
|
Sun, 29 Jan 2006
Snapshot
Support
Ed,
I continue to support you with your snapshots.
If you haven't thought about it a while, this is a reminder. I have been
doing a review and refining of my snapshot and it has been very powerful.
I notice that the latest dates on Trading System Project are October 26, and
that Body in Shape notes end September 25th.
I hold you to your commitment.
Are you off track or have the snapshot changed to something else I should
support?
How is it going?
What do you need now?
What is standing in your way or holding you back?
How are you feeling about it? |
Thank you for your support. I appreciate
your holding me accountable for manifesting my Snapshots: Body in Shape
and Ed's Book on Trading.
I am responding to being behind on a number of projects by hiring two more
people to help me - one to help with administration and free up my schedule
- and one to help with programming, converting to C# and moving TSP forward.
I am no longer bicycling as we now have snow in Incline Village. As a winter
substitute, I am taking up snowboarding. So far, it seems more demanding
than bicycling - I am complete on my third lesson today - and I am complete
on owning my own equipment and a season pass as of last Friday.
I'm planning to go snowboarding 3 or 4
times per week through the end of the season, likely sometime in March. I
live about 3-1/2 miles from the lift so I can go over on the good days.
My Snapshot is of me at the bottom of
the Lodge Pole, on my board, victorious at making it all the way down in one
run, without stopping. My son and daughter are on either side of me,
sharing in my celebration.
I am feeling relief about getting some help with all my projects and also a
little apprehensive about starting new relationships. I am feeling
general exhaustion and soreness in my muscles, particularly my lower legs,
from snowboarding.

Diamond Peak at Incline Village

Detail of Lower Runs
Clip:
http://www.diamondpeak.com/
mountain/trail_map |
|
Sat, 28 Jan 2006
Serving by
Receiving
Dear Ed,
My fiancée and I are loving each other more than ever, and we feel
very good about our relationship. However, as our wedding date comes
near, there are times when we start to quarrel, especially regarding
the wedding.
She obviously has lots of feelings about having an
"elegant" wedding, and I feel annoyed when we get into the subject.
Tonight she tells me that I need to get the invitation ready before my
mother calls. I, feeling annoyed, slip out something sarcastic
like, "Yeah, why don't you tell me even later, like right when my mom
calls?"
My fiancée has a huge reaction. She is very upset that I
falsely accuse her not telling me earlier. She vehemently says she has
told me before, and accuses me of not paying attention as I try to
stay away from the wedding mess.
I get into a logical debate with her, like lawyers in court arguing on
the fine prints on what the definition of the word really means.
During a pause in our argument, all of a sudden I have this thought,
and I say to her, "How come we often seem to get into quarrels when we
get into this wedding thing?"
From that point of curiosity, I remember the lessons I learn from the
Workshop. I see the futility in both of us trying to send. So I
heartily say to her, "Thank you for letting me know that I've falsely
accused you. It's good that you do that."
I say that not because of being cute or sarcastic, or just to appease
her. I say that out of the appreciation that she is sharing her
feelings with me.
I think it is an honor to be on the receiving end
when people share their feelings with you, especially when that person
is your close family. If I ever falsely accuse her, I want her to let
me know, and I am glad for her to share that with me.
It is quite amazing. I start to realize, when people are upset at you,
angry at you - it's really that they are just sharing their feelings.
They are sending. And it is a true honor to be able to receive those
feelings for them, to serve them. There is no longer a need to be
right. I think you say it in the Workshop, serving others brings
meaning to our lives (or something like that). I feel grateful to be
able to serve others by receiving their feelings.
Thank you Ed for your teachings. |
Completing your wedding is the first
official event of your marriage and sets the style and tone for many events
to follow.
You might consider receiving your
fiancée about her snapshot about your wedding - and sending her yours.
In the event you encounter difficulties,
you might consider taking these to your Tribe as entry points.

Wedding
A
way to formalize
what is already working
and
what isn't.
Clip:
http://www.hcr.com/images/lg_wedding.jpg |
|
Sat, 28 Jan 2006
Experience with TTP
Book
Hi Ed,
I have received your book and given it a careful and heartfelt reading. I
see that it is dense with truth and presents a joyful way to discover one’s
own truths. I used to feel that I was good at knowing and dealing with my
feelings, but now I see that I was good at judging and thinking about
them—and that doing so, paradoxically, is to ignore them! I have practiced
DIM with some success, and have achieved some things that have been achieved
by others in tribal settings; but I think my experience is not as intense as
theirs, probably.
Nevertheless, I am aware that my life is utterly RE-MADE
by simply disengaging the habit of tying bad feelings into k-nots with
judgments. I have experienced the untying of some k-nots, and the subsequent
EXPANSION of who I am—my mind is BIGGER, MORE ROOM in there now! So much
more room for thinking, learning, experiencing!
Another thing I have acquired is an almost constant awareness of TTP. That
awareness has recently presented me with a very valuable and unexpected AHA
experience while reading “How I Made $2,000,000 in the Stock Market” by
Nicolas Darvas. Anyone going through the first few years of trading can
identify with Darvas’ early process, but what generated my insight was
thinking about how he navigated his way through that process: He learned
from his mistakes!
And it hit me: Learning from your mistakes is the PERFECT
OPPOSITE to generating judgments about your feelings and experiences.
How
counterintuitive! Somehow we all seem to come to believe that having
judgments about our feelings IS learning! I see so clearly now that creating
k-nots is contrary to the process of learning from mistakes! I see this
CRYSTAL CLEAR—I can see how, again and again, judging my experiences and
feelings has KEPT ME from learning from them.
You have created something truly great, Ed—WORLD-SHAKING GREAT! I can only
hope that the fire you’ve started can light the whole world aflame so the
world’s problems can be solved!
I will see you someday to thank you in person. |
Thank you for sharing your process.
Learning from mistakes requires willingness to learn.

Personally, I haven't learned anything from failure
Clip:
http://www.cartoonstock.com/newscartoons/
cartoonists/jsi/lowres/jsin45l.jpg |
|
Sat, 28 Jan 2006
Trading Tribe in Jail
Dear Ed:
Thank you for replying to my message regarding starting a Trading Tribe in
prison.
I credit you and your book along with Albert Ellis’s A Guide to Rational
Living in helping me come forward regarding my fraudulent acts. I will be
making a court appearance within a few weeks and will be sentenced in late
spring.
Once I know my prison assignment, you will be able to locate me using the
Bureau of Prisons Web site:
http://www.bop.gov/iloc2/LocateInmate.jsp
From that point, I suppose that you will be able to contact the prison camp
and possibly lead a Trading Tribe meeting. I will keep you posted regarding
the significant dates. |
You may need to enroll the prison
psychologist as an ally to manifest your vision for a Tribe in jail.
Prisons have fairly strict rules
governing expressions of feelings, particularly anger.
You may find gaining permission is
easier now, while you have mobility, before your term begins.
I am willing to talk with the prison
psychologist, even travel to help set up a Tribe, at the request of the
psychologist.

Prison
A
place where breaking in
might be as difficult as breaking out.
Clip:
http://www.dfwhog.com/album/2003/
pics/030202-Prison-Front.jpg |
|
Sat, 28 Jan 2006
Workshop Attendee
Hi Ed,
How are you? [Name] contacts me. He wants to start a tribe
in [City], I agree to help him get started and plan on meeting at his house
next week for our first meeting. Before I go to his house I want to verify
with you that he actually attends the workshop, as I don't feel comfortable
walking into somebody's house who I don't know.
|
FAQ
assists like-minded people to
connect, at their own risk. See Tribe Directory Page.
Workshop attendance is not a requirement
for starting a Tribe.
You might take your fear of strangers to
your Tribe as an entry point.

Rugged Individualism
may
be part of a drama
around an intimacy k-not.
Clip:
http://hometown.aol.com/
jesusandsue3/balstranger.jpg |
|
Fri, 27 Jan 2006
Panic and Anxiety
Hi Ed,
Almost two years ago I experienced my first ever
anxiety attack and it was the scariest thing I have
ever experienced in my life. The 'trigger' may have
been working the overnight shift at a currency trading
firm. Ever since I have not been the same. I still get
the attacks now and then and there is usually a
feeling of constant pressure in my chest and abdomen.
Some days I feel great and other days it gets pretty
darn rough.
I equate my feelings, my life, and my trading results
as being in a perpetual trading range with slight
breakouts to the upside but always coming back to the
bottom of the range.
I read in an earlier FAQ that TTP
was beneficial for PTSD and was wondering if you have
encountered similar positive results for individuals
that experience anxiety attacks and/or general anxiety
disorder?
Yours Truly, |
Yes. We are accumulating evidence that
TTP is effective in treating PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). You
might consider taking your feelings of panic and anxiety to your Tribe as
entry points.

Panic
has a positive intention.
Clip:
http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-images/
Guardian/Pix/gallery/2001/09/11/panic.jpg |
|
Fri, 27 Jan 2006
Seeking a Substitute for TTP
Hello; after reading Ed Seykota's Trading Tribe web site, I was much
impressed. However, living as I do ...far from any
Trading Tribe, I was seeking to see if there was any way I could experience
the therapy, or any reasonable facsimile thereof. Is there?
If TTP is an offshoot designed for traders from some other branch, I would
like to know its form so I could try it out, or something.
Is this
possible? |
See Tribe Directory, above for
instructions on joining or starting a Tribe.
You might take your feelings about
wanting substitutes to your Tribe as entry points.

While This Trendy Fashion Statement
is a substitute for TTP
it is not TTP.
Clip:
http://home.tiscali.be/cartoo/RealA/sacks.jpg |
|
Thu, 26 Jan 2006
3 questions
Hi Ed,
May I get a receipt for payment for the recent Reno workshop? (tax records)
When is the next Breathwork Workshop?
Next Thursday while in I.V., may I read your original four-page monograph
titled Tribal Trading (1992)?
Thank you. |
Yes.
When I sense demand for it.
Yes. |
|
Thu, 26 Jan 2006
Recent Tribe Experience
Happy Nausea,
Curing Back Pain, Instant Connection
Dear Chief Seykota,
Strenuous Hot Seat tonight. I’m not hot about anything in particular going
in, but go for it anyway, knowing there’s something down there, but kidding
myself that there’s not, knowing I’m kidding myself, knowing there’s
something there, knowing I need to work ...
Not one particular issue, but a mosaic – starts with a short monologue,
"Just the feeling of a lot of little things coming at me at once, feeling
slightly overwhelmed, a new opportunity … creates conflict, CONFLICT <voice
rising> all the crap … just keeps coming … keeps coming at me … won’t stop … won’t
stop! <arms fling out and up in front of me> won’t stop!" The Tribe jumps
all over the form, and like kindling to a fire, it’s lit.
Very little process management needed from that point on, and a quite
bizarre experience follows - one form morphs into the next, and seamlessly
into the next … out of control - this stuff’s happening on its own … eyes closed
almost throughout as I bask in the glowing encouragement of the Tribe … legs
straight out in front and crossed at the feet and tensed, leaning forward,
arms reaching out, stretched, tense, tight … more stretching forms (Where’s
this stuff coming from? …i t keeps coming), stretching and holding to the
point of trembling…loud, unearthly guttural moans, scrunched face, wide-open
mouth – I can’t close my mouth <what the h---?>
I can’t close my mouth for a long time, and I go on…then the primary form
hits with a vengeance: I arch my back to the breaking point, arms-up
shoulders-back, farther back … head thrown way back…farther back … stretching.
This morphs into other forms, stretching, and then--out of the blue and
won’t be ignored -- the primary form strikes again: Back arched, head thrown
back, arms-up shoulders-back, farther back … guttural … other forms follow …
When the primary form strikes a third time—clearly in command, like h---
won’t have it-- I have an Aha, and scream: "There you are … you f---er!" ….I K
N O W Y O U !
(Only much later, on the long drive home, does it dawn on me that for a week
or more prior to Tuesday night’s Tribe meeting, sitting at my desk working,
that many times I had the impulsive desire to sit up straight and arch my
back, and I did, a little - and stretch a little - and get back to work
without giving it a second thought. What is that? What’s there, that needs
to come out? I don’t know -- and still don’t know -- but it became my primary
form on the Hot Seat. During that preceding week, I also experienced LOWER
BACK PAIN, and during this time I became very aware of my posture, and my
tendency to slump, and my repeated mention to friends that I feel stale, and
in a slump… )
Then the nausea hits. This has happened before. I hate the nausea. The
process manager asks if I’m willing to experience it, and I reply, "No, I
don’t want to throw up <again, as I did during a previous Hot Seat>." But I
focus on the nausea, anyway, and let it get really unpleasant, and
experience that. (Hot Seat? I’m coming to think of it as the Cold and Clammy
Seat.)
More forms. They just keep coming. No particular feeling first – they just
manifest.
Then the nausea hits again. Like Indiana Jones hates snakes, I hate the
nausea, but am willing to feel it, anyway. Then, a joke about the nausea
pops into my head, and I share it, and then start laughing, uncontrollably.
This is almost impossible to describe, but the nausea is still
there -- there’s this tangible form in my stomach -- but all of a sudden it’s
a … happy nausea. (Nausea followed by laughter is now a recurring form, with
me.)
I barely have enough energy left to integrate all the forms, but do my best.
Finally, it’s over.
Time stands still – I don’t know whether five minutes has passed, or
fifty-five minutes…
I am spent. I’m completely drained, and dehydrated. I’m weak, and shaky. My
hands shake. An hour later, I am still shaking ever so slightly, to the
point that it affects my driving.
TUE. NIGHT – POST TRIBE
Though feeling weak and shaky, I’m amazingly calm and relaxed and confident
and perceptive -- somehow more attuned to the world around me, and my
interaction with it. Just stopping to grab a cup of coffee, I notice an
instant rapport with the nice lady behind the counter. "This one’s on the
house," she says with a smile, because they need to brew a fresh pot (one of
the few waits in life that I actually enjoy). Another barista -- an attractive
young woman -- walks behind the counter and puts on her apron after a break,
and I notice I’m much more aware of body posture and facial expressions – my
own and others – and I ask her about the music that’s playing, and we
connect instantly, and something she says makes me guess that she’s a Kevin
Smith fan, and yes—she’s seen all his movies—and we have a delightful chat.
These days, I’m much more aware of the common bond of humanity we all share,
and catch myself silently acknowledging others and wishing them well on
their journey, and wondering what their lives are like, and what they think
about, and what’s important to them in life, instead of judging, and people
respond to that instinctively, instantly, positively.
I stop for gas, hop back in my car while it pumps, and sit, door open to
enjoy the cool evening. I’m in a peaceful daze, staring at the ground,
unfocused, when the shrill beep sounds to tell me my tank is full. I don’t
move, don’t bat an eye, don’t break the trance.
It pops into my head, how
often we react without thinking, and what unconscious slaves we are to so
many things, in life. And I just sit for a few minutes more, staring off
into the distance, enjoying the moment, noticing nothing and everything,
thinking how happy I am, how great it is to be alive, and how everything is
as it should be. The gas pump, I’ll deal with when I'm ready. What a
peaceful feeling.
From TTP in general, I feel a greater commitment to honor my commitments. I
feel less hurried, yet accomplish more, and am more comfortable with the
passage of time.
WED. AM
Wake up feeling particularly refreshed.
The first time I get up from my desk this morning, I notice that the back
pain of the week before, that plagued me even yesterday, is gone. My
shoulders, upper back and neck are killing me from all the stretching and
tensing Tue night, but NO MORE BACK PAIN. Cool.
More perceptive – I notice that even the voices of people I’ve known for a
long time sound markedly different on the phone, today. There are qualities
there, that I’ve never picked up on before. I’ve been missing something. Or
a lot of something's.
WED. PM
I go to a local coffee shop to work, and run into a friend. No hello - she
greets me with a puzzled, "You’re different."
She’s right. I am.
|
Thank you for sharing your process.

When You Are Willing
to experience the nausea ...

... and the back ache ...

... you dissolve what's standing between you
and connecting with others.
Clips:
http://www.high5youth.com/
images/h5y-pic22.jpg
http://www.toreyjeanes.com/
images/back_ache.jpg
http://www.metronews.ca/
uploadedImages/gosling_article.jpg
|
|
Wed, 25 Jan 2006
Pressing Questions
Mr. Seykota,
I am in the process of reading your book and have 2 pressing questions at
this time.
1 – Would you recommend a specific software program to me, so that I can
start refining my own trading system?
2 – I would like to come to a TTP meeting in Incline Village later this year
and would like to know if you allow people to attend who have only read the book?
Thank you, |
FAQ does not recommend commercial
products. See Ground Rules. For the requirements to attend the Incline
Village Tribe, see the Tribe Directory.
You might consider taking your feelings
of urgency to your Tribe as entry points.

Steam Iron
A convenient way
to handle pressing problems.
Clip:
http://www.chinagiftware.com/
Household%20stream%20iron.jpg.jpg |
|
Wed, 25 Jan 2006
What Should I Do
Dear Ed,
I have started with some tools that might assist me in
trading with the trend and I'm also trying to adjust
myself so that my emotions do not interfere with it.
While working in a group, I'm facing an issue that
other members of the group have already reached to a
that level after a span of 5 years.
What exactly
should be my approach, should I make haste to reach
their level or should I let time adjust the situation. |
I am not clear about your issue.
FAQ does not tell people what they should do. See Ground Rules. |
|
Wed, 25 Jan 2006
Workshop Report -
Aha with Thirty Receivers in Two Minutes
Ed,
It seems that each workshop is more efficient than the one preceding.
I presume that the participants had read the book, and the group
got into the process simply and quickly. No lag; no warm-up; tallyho!
In this workshop, we did a lot of TTP. I took two hot seats, acted as PM
for at least three, and received for many. It was a great learning
experience.
The speakers were enlightening and the fellow attendees were really
terrific. I had a great time.
In a moment of confusion, I asked a question about the process during
an assembly of the entire group.
Instead of replying to me that I might
like to take that issue to the hotseat with my tribe, I found myself
suddenly
IN the hotseat with my tribe.
After laughing at myself for getting into this
situation, I dove into the process. I was wanting to know, wanting to
understand a bit more about how to get to the maximum _expression of
feeling and how to freeze it to maximize the experience.
The process
was very quick, very efficient. It seems like it may have only lasted about
two minutes, but, in less than that time, the issue dissolved for me.
The
tension, concern, worry, and whatever else I did not like to feel about
that went poof! I began to laugh, as I often do when I suddenly have an
AHA and realize that my behavior pattern has been driven by some
strange directive unbeknownst to me.
It is simultaneous amusement
at learning how the mind works and joy that I have been released from
some type of shackle or bond, now freer.
Even now, weeks later, the need to know is apparently no longer
the issue it was. It is not that I do not want to know. I am forever
curious.
It is more that it is OK for me not to know. The emotional charge of NEEDING
to know has dissipated. I am OK with where I am NOW. This is of
great value and significance for me.
Thanks to my tribe for the support. Having thirty receivers is very cool! |
Thank you for sharing your process.

Curiosity
is essential to learning
Clip:
http://www-astronomy.mps.ohio-state.edu/~depoy/images/curious.jpg
|
|
Wed, 25 Jan 2006
Grof, Trading & TTP
Ed,
A passage from S. Grof's Psychology of the Future seems to apply equally to
holotropic breath work (Grof's subject here), trading and TTP:
"the best we can do as therapists is to accept and support what is
happening, whether or not it is consonant with our theoretical concepts or
expectations"
Grof, POF, p. 28
For " therapists" substitute traders, senders & receivers, and the passage
makes equal sense.
Thanks again for all of your work. |
Grof champions the "Holotropic" (tending
toward healing) subset of "non-ordinary states of consciousness."
TTP differs from Holotropic work in that
in TTP we process senders one-at-a time and we surround them with a healing
field of acknowledgment.
Holotropic breath work is essentially a
solo process without a field of receivers.
Also, TTP occurs in the now, whereas the
psychology in Grof's book evidently intends to show up in the non-existing
future.

Stanislav Grof
During the 60's, Stan conducts
over 4,000 LSD sessions,
many on himself.
Clip:
http://www.muscaria.com/grof.htm |
|
Wed, 25 Jan 2006
Just Can't Join a Tribe - Using DIM
The closest Tribe is in [City], which is too far for me to get to. Besides, the
head of the chapter said that he was not interested in meetings because was
not enough interest from others to hold them.
What remains for me is the
DIM process, which I have been working on, to remarkably impressive results. |
TTP does not attempt to treat
unwillingness.

Dragging People into TTP
is not part of TTP.
Clip:
http://www.gardenofpraise.com/
images/child10t.jpg |
|
Tue, 24 Jan 2006
Second [City] Tribe
Ed,
I am working with members of the [City] tribe to start a second tribe here. The response is good so far. I plan to follow the TT Book and
[Name] from the [City] tribe's advice on how to get started.
Do you have any
suggestions or requirements to start up the tribe?
Regards, |
You might consider taking your feelings
of - hesitation about not knowing how to do it - to your first meeting as an
entry point.
When you want to proceed, send your
request to start a Tribe to FAQ so I can post it to the Tribe Directory.

Both The Baby Crocodile and Reed Frog
hesitate for a few moments
before lunch.
http://www.crocodilefotos.com/home.htm |
|
Tue, 24 Jan 2006
Causal Model in Stock Trading
Dear Ed
Thanks for providing the Trading System Project and Resources on your
website. I am gaining enormously from the exercises and I am very
keen to see the next stages, as listed in the Table of Contents,
whenever they are ready.
I complete the exponential crossover and support and resistance
projects in Excel (writing to FAQ with the Excel results a few weeks
ago).
In late December I decide to code the two systems in C and
complete both exercises (it is not trivial and I benefit from some C
coding experience from 17 years ago).
So I have a C back testing
application which Excel verifies. I start to run the back-testing
program on other stocks price data to gain insights and to test my
application. When I run my C program using the S&P and Gold data
files and it churns out the tabulated results (in a fraction of the
time it takes Excel) I am very satisfied - a feeling someone
somewhere on their path to right livelihood experiences, perhaps.
I also take a good look at the Trends exercise and revisit the
screening results this week to see how those stocks turn out.
In
summary, I observe that 10 of the stocks you screen move up by more
than 20% at some time between 21 October and 20 January and 6 move
by more than about 40%.
Finding out how a mechanical system can
capture the major part of these moves is another exercise of course.
By the way, Bio-Logic System's (BLSC) move is due to a takeover offer
a couple of days before you run the screen (hence its price chart
looks like a step function).
This is fundamental information that
even a purist trend-follower cannot ignore - you would surely remove
this stock from your screen as the "trend" you observe is over?
Without being too fundamentalist about it,
I conclude that there are
identifiable reasons for some moves.
warm regards,
P.S. I attempt to write this email in SVO-p and the result, in my
view, is unnatural, awkward and forced. An entry point, no doubt. |
Thank you for sharing your process.
In the Causal Model, you find two events
and post one as the reason for the other.
In the System Model, you recognize
everything is responsible for everything else and look for trends.

In The Causal-Legal Model
The Legal Cause of an Accident
often turns out to be
the entity who can afford to pay
for cleaning up the mess.

In the Causal Model
The Likely Cause
does not have to connect physically
with the Effect.
Clips:
http://www.grouchyoldcripple.com/
archives/Effect.jpg |
|
Sun, 22 Jan 2006
Back and Forth Chart
Hi Ed!
In the spirit of the way you do things, here is another deeper look at the
answer to your question - if I can tell you exactly what I mean by a back and forward chart.
My best guess on what I mean by a back and forward chart, is that I
didn't type in the letter what my conscious wanted to type but rather my my
subconscious.
Hence a back and forward chart, is my subconscious mind speak
for a "back and forth chart." My mind is probably thinking "back and forth"
because that's one of the things I am doing when looking at charts, changing
the parameters, going 'back and forth' between forward and back adjusted
charts looking for potential breakout points.
I wonder if that's what I meant?
|
You might consider taking your feelings
about going back and forth to your Tribe as an entry point.

Going Back and Forth
can help you
get into the swing of things.
Clip:
http://www.burtmountain.com/images/
Grandad%20and%20Swing%20
2002%2011%2029.jpg |
|
Sun, 22 Jan 2006
TSP Feedback- Counting Eggs
| |