Ed Seykota's

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Questions

(Quotes from Ed in Red)

Fri, 16 Nov 2007

Shy

Ed,

Thank you for sharing your process.

You might consider taking your feelings of <intense pain> to Tribe.

Shyness

may serve to cover up

other feelings

Clip: http://vortis.com/blog/archives/

Fri, 16 Nov 2007

Market Maker

Thank you for sharing your process.

You might consider using the TTP Polarity Process to reconcile the feelings of short term and long term trading.

Thu, 15 Nov 2007

Thank you for sharing your process - and for being there to support your mother.

Family

is the Essential Tribe

Clip: http://www.hospitalitynetwork.ca/

Thu, 15 Nov 2007

New Approach With Son

Transforms Anger to Laughter
 

Ed,

Thank you for sharing your process.

For another view of father and son and pushing, see:

Video Link: http://bluesequoia.multiply.com/

video/item/8/Father_and_Son

Thu, 15 Nov 2007

Tribe Meeting Feedback

"I don't know"

Ed,

I'm awake much earlier than I intended, tossing and turning. Every time I lay down to sleep I begin to feel forms coming on. A few are straightforward, embarrassment and rejection, and I go with them, explore them a bit. Because I understand the process and I know I'm willing, I'm confident I will open up to them over time.

Thank you for sharing your process and for illustrating that willingness to fully experience <I don't know> leads on to knowing.

I Don't Know

One of its positive intentions

is to motivate the process

of finding out.

Clip: http://www.letstalkscience.ca/

Wed, 14 Nov 2007

Importance of Self-Knowledge

Thank you for sharing your thoughts about the importance of gaining self-knowledge.

Wed, 14 Nov 2007

Select a Candidate

Thank you for the link.

Wed, 14 Nov 2007

Report on Tribe Meeting
 

Ed,
 

Thank you for sharing your process.

You might consider taking your feelings about <proving things to others> to Tribe.

Wed, 14 Nov 2007

TSP

Wed, 14 Nov 2007

Short-Term / Long-Term Trading Cycle - #2
see previous

Hi Ed,

This FAQ sums up my situation. I want to thank the sender and you for putting this up on the web. I think outlining the situations that result in my ‘turbo-charging’ might help the sender recognize the situations that bring this about for him.

I notice I try to ‘turbo-charge’ my account following conversations with people my age that I went to school with who are now earning more money than me, despite the fact I was scholastically equal or superior to most of them.

This often comes on the back of a good trading time for me and the conviction that if I keep doing what I’m doing but a little bigger size and little more often I’ll be rich in no time. Of course the opposite is likely.

I struggle to understand that my intention is to lose money.

I also notice I go ‘turbo-charged’ when frustrated at work and feel that I am not doing enough to make money and get out of debt. Perhaps a day spent doing jobs at work that don’t directly lead to money perhaps tidying the workshop versus selling something.

I notice arguments with my Dad (who I work for and who divorced my Mom a few years ago) lead to dreams about him ‘choosing his new life over his old life (me)’ and me getting progressively angry and upset by this over a few days until a trading blowout medicates these feelings away.

He has a good business and makes good money and all will be passed on to me if I want it.

My problems with that are that are:

The wealth from it won’t be ‘enough’ for me (although it’s a lot better than what I have now)

It won’t happen soon enough (although I see all wealthy people are much older than me)

I don’t want to be given anything, least of all from him.

I feel I can do ‘better’ and achieve more in business (this in turn makes me feel guilty for looking down at what he achieved for me and the family).

I want to cry now; I want a better relationship with him as I’m sure it will dissolve a lot of drama for both of us.

Thank you for sharing your process.

Tue, 13 Nov 2007

Cockatoo System / Missing the Bus

Tue, 13 Nov 2007

Looking at the Money

Dear Ed,

Mon, 12 Nov 2007

Associate Meeting: Add-On Rules

Ed,

Here is a recap or our meeting.

 
Ed asks me what I'm working on.

I reply that I'm working on my trading system software in C#. I'm also trading gold and the DOW to get a feel for what its like to be a trend follower.

Ed asks me what determines my system for trading gold and the DOW.

I explain that I start by using the TSP SR system. As an example, I explain that I enter positions in the same direction as the long term trend. I set my stop at the short-term support. As the price of gold increases, the stops increase. As the price increases, I add to the position twice. Gold rallies a lot since my entries and my position has a lot of open profit. I decide to use a 3-ATR stop (20 day lag) to lock in some profits. Today gold trades down over 25 dollars/oz. I'm a few dollars away from stopping out.

Ed asks me how I come up with a 3-ATR stop.

I tell him that although I haven't tested it, I think it might be better than waiting for the short-term support to stop me out of the position.

Ed asks me again how I come up with a 3-ATR stop.

I read it in a book.

Ed asks me yet again how I come up with a 3-ATR stop.

I tell him that I just don't want to give up all the profit on the trade.

Then, Ed starts making points. He says that I'm unwilling to feel what it would be like to lose all of the open profit on the trade. He says that using an un-tested exit method is a way to medicate my feelings of losing profits on the trade.

Ed points out the incongruent logic of my "trading system". Asking me the same question repeatedly makes me think hard about what is behind my decision; it puts a mirror in front of my actions. Unable to think of a good response, it becomes clear that Ed's insight it correct.

Taking criticism is hard for me, but I know that it will make me a better person and a better trader.

Mon, 12 Nov 2007

Post Workshop Feedback

Sun, 11 Nov 2007

Since the Workshop

Sun, 11 Nov 2007

Workshop Feedback

Dear Mr. Seykota:

I hope you are well. I thank you for letting us know you are working on You Tube Project and new book.  It would be the most precious thing that any trader and other willing person could ever have on it's book shelf, computer-mp3 etc.

Today we had our first local TTP meeting since the workshop. It was great to meet fellow participant who attended the workshop as well other committed members. There are so many aha's since the workshop and the truth is I don't know where to begin.

I did not write FAQ immediately after the workshop because for first two weeks I was feeling process of change and was sort of flowing with it. I feel very fortunate to be one of the participant in the workshop. I eternally thank you for your contribution.

Below are some of the great things I learned during the workshop:

Control. We are all guilty of this and we try to control weather in the house, work, anything.

System model and Causal model. Preferably be Bilingual to maintain harmony. I was actually judging the causal model hence going in circles ending up loosing all my friend and creating major headache and drama. Now I enjoy being bilingual and hence accepting everybody as is without judgment and I feel I am experiencing Total Freedom and peace for the first time.

Feelings are objects (at least some of it I think or feel?? ) In tribe process we encourage people to feel our feelings.

I try my best to sum up my experience in the workshop and it's lasting result. (Work
Shop Experience: Experience TTP, Listening to Ed, Listening to Banjo, Experiencing Rock Process as receiver and role play, and Polarity Process.

My issues:

Have no social life what so ever. Friend as well as partner (not being able to relate to people nor have no interest in causal system)
Not communicating with my parents
Not being able to take meaningful risk to produce meaningful profit.
Dissolving what's between me and being Great.
Caught in the Middle, two sales assistants, two tribes, two cats, two cultures, mixed race, etc.

Lasting Result:

Conflict and tensions at work completely disappeared and evolved into genuine harmony without any effort. New Friendships emerge at work place, exchange ideas in a very supporting atmosphere.

Looking forward to taking meaningful risks everyday in trading.

Entry and Exit point are unbelievably accurate.

Developed deep passion toward trading.

Spoke to my parents for the first time in 6th month and sent her 5% of my income.

Shifting my focus and interests from raising assets(more clients) to meaningful profits.

Naturally started to short from 10 days ago and entered multiple positions. First meaningful and profitable shorting experiences and naturally investigating further opportunities.

Aha from reading recent FAQ, that some form of Flirting, Sexual Taboos are type of dramas we engage to avoid intimacy. I acknowledge it is my deep issues and took the first step to target this issue today at our local tribe meeting with support from my fellow tribesman. During snapshot process member asks "should I judge your snapshot?" my reply, I would appreciate your brutal honest view." He willingly gets in to details especially the FUN and Relationship Snapshot, I develop some forms during the snapshots.

After snapshots, we move on and I ask who is hot. One member raises his hand and we shift our focus to him. (I was describing this entire hot seat just now however I decided not to write because I feel I must respect his privacy. I'm sure he will share his story one day. I am shifting focus on my hot seat experience now )

After the hot seat we are happy with experience and feel that we are making progress. I ask the members "who is hot now?" Other members is not so hot and tells us he is fine. We are OK with that and we thank him for his honesty. Although I didn't feel much hot, however I decided to somehow tackle my issue of avoiding intimacy.

As the process began some how I started to say that my new computer and recent DSL installment at home is making me feel weird. I ask members to start drumming, I immediately develop forms rubbing my face in to slapping my hand all over my face, head everywhere, it felt like splash of fire works were all over my face and my head area.

Sun, 11 Nov 2007

Wants to Access History

Dear Mr. Seykota,

I want to ask you if you think that it is possible to remember incidents buried so deep in the subconscious from such a long time ago.

Or could my memories be the product of imaginations brought on by my unhappy past. This question has huge implications for me as, if I have remembered what I think I have remembered, then it explains so much about my life that now makes sense.

Whatever memories you have exist in the now.  Learning the origins of these memories may be less important than learning how to deal with them in the now.

You might consider taking your feelings about <unhappy past> to Tribe.

Dinosaur Bones

exist now or not at all.

The same goes

for memories

of dinosaur bones

and memories in general.

Clip: http://comsewogue.k12.ny.us/~rstewart/

Sat, 10 Nov 2007

Headache

Dear Ed:

i had a snapshot last week. objective=get rid of bad headech started thursday morning 11/08 and did not go until next morning ,i take my sitution to the trib meeting ,the process manager ask who is hot ?

i reply . the manager ask what is the problem? i answer bad headech the manager ask what is the problem? i answer bad headech the manager ask what is the problem? i recieve a phone call telling me the stock (GooG) droped 60pt in one day,the manager asked what is the problem,i answer i had my stop at $709.00, the manager asked what is the problem?

i answer disappoointment market can go up or down one trend will make for everything manager say your stop saved you a lot of money ,market has no rules anything goes. process manager ask what is the problem ?

Thank you for sharing your process.

You might consider consulting with your physician to rule out physiological factors before pressing forward with psychological methods.

You might notice that you do not seem to recall the details of the Forms Process in which you go into your headache, explore its contours, listen to it's messages, make the sound of it's voice and develop some insights about how it fits in with how you run your relationships. 

You might recall your insights that you regularly use your headache as a way to distance yourself from moving forward in intimate situations, such as with your girl friend. 

When you develop these insights during your process, your headache changes location and momentarily disappears.  Sometimes, when you get close to experiencing these insights, you create an even bigger headache to avoid proceeding.

During the process you also recall the phone call about the stock comes from your girl friend.

At the end of the process you consume 650 mg of aspirin to treat your headache.

Google

The sender reports hearing

about GOOG declining 60 points

and then noticing a headache.

He omits the details

that he stops out at 709

and that the call comes

from his girlfriend.

Headaches

typically carry messages.

One positive intention of headache

is to motivate pro-active change.

Sometimes people use headache

medicinally, as a reason / excuse

to avoid intimacy.

Headache might also come to serve

as an organizing principle

for trading.

In either event,

we can gain information

by listening to the voices

that accompany the headache.

Once the headache communicates

its message

it tends to disappear.

Aspirin can serve

to medicate the headache.

In some cases, then,

we may meta-medicate

some of our forms of medication.

Clip: http://www.uwstout.edu/studenthealth/

Sat, 10 Nov 2007

You can likely find a wide variety of Breath Work practitioners; many types of groups employ Breath Work as a part of their disciplines.

Fri, 9 Nov 2007

Doesn't Remember Doing the Funky Chicken

Ed,

I show up at Ed's with the idea of working on my snapshot, which is straight forward: Do the Exponential Average Crossover exercise from the TSP page, in Excel, to the penny. Ed asks what's standing between me and completion of my snapshot. I explain that I have no computer, nor software, but both are en route.

Ed repeats, "So what's standing between you and completion of your snapshot?" Seems obvious to me. I say again that I don't have the tools, add that I've read the Dummies books on Vista and Excel, and I'm ready to hit the ground running when the goods arrive.

Ed asks again, "What's standing...?," etc. I admit to some apprehension about going through the learning curve, wanting help, having doubts about commitment, all the usual suspects. A fourth time,

Ed asks the same question. I don't know what he's getting at so I give him the I Don't Know What Else To Tell You look, with upturned hands, scrunched shoulders and wrinkled nose.

Ed says, "Freeze that," and tells the tribe this is a judgment I have about commitment and completion and needing help, then says, "Give me that form again." I'm more interested in getting clarity tonight, k-not in doing forms, but I give him another shrug. Now the tribe gets on board with "Do more of that," and it's off to the races, though slowly at first -- I 'm still skeptical that doing the Funky Chicken is really the way to learn Excel -- but I stick with it, searching for "feelings," and go a little farther this time than in previous experiences.

Thank you for sharing your process.

You might notice you do not seem to recall much detail about the Forms Process in which you bring your form [Funky Chicken] to term.  In the process, your associating notion [I don't know how to do it] disappears, leaving you with certainty about how to proceed.

During the subsequent processes, you seem to absorb substantial insights by observing others.

Taking Forms to Term

is an essential part

of the TTP process

and one which the sender

may not remember.

Clip: http://www.animationplayhouse.com/

Fri, 9 Nov 2007

Libertarian Questions

Ed,

I understand that libertarianism is the idea that government is operating at its best when its role is minimal and exists only to provide means to adjudicate disagreements between individuals and provide services that may not be practical in the private market ie. sovereign defense.

In addition, private individuals are free to associate in anyway they wish as long as they do not harm others. Ed, where do the libertarians stand on the issue of "potential harm to others".

I do not know where Libertarians stand; the notions of libertarian collective and libertarian government seem incongruent - like trying to apply the causal model to understanding systems.

You might consider these notions:

Libertarian Party: A small pot-luck gathering of people who meet to celebrate the free exchange of ideas.

 

Adjudication: The law itself is a private matter; people can retain agreement assurance firms as part of the contracting process.

 

Drunk Driving:  People drive on a system of private roads, each with its own local laws, customs, agreements and methods of enforcement.

You might consider taking your feelings about <government> to your Tribe and to notice if you conduct your personal relationships more like a government or a community.

Government

A government is a body that has the power to make and the authority to enforce rules and laws.

Government tends to become self-aware and then self-aggrandizing. It typically grows by promising to help people and winds up stifling them.

Community

A community is a body that operates according to customs.  Community requires active participation - absent which it may evolve into government.

Clips:

http://www.wsfa.org/journal/j92/1/

jan92government.gif

http://www.ci.carbondale.il.us/Government/

organizational_chart.html

Fri, 9 Nov 2007

Short-Term / Long-Term Trading Cycle
 

Short-term trading suffers from an unfavorable

Transaction_Cost / Profit_Potential ratio.  It is vulnerable to surprise price moves that jump over close stops.  It incurs the risk of evolving into frantic, obsessive wrestling with the markets. 

Simulation studies show a substantial risk-normal profitability roll-off for trading frequencies below the once-per-month range.  See TSP, above.

Successful day-traders seem to know when to refrain from day-trading. They may have a long-term overlay filter that informs them when to day-trade and when to avoid day-trading.  In this case, the long-term filter may work better by itself, without the day-trading.

Many day-traders have an official intention to make money and a senior intention to engage in market drama that medicates (distracts attention from) deeper issues relating to right-livelihood.

You might consider reviewing your trading history and noticing what events occur around the points that you switch from ST to LT and from LT to ST. 

Your pattern is consistent with an agenda to limit the profitability of your trading account.

In Our Increasing Medicinal Society

day-trading can be a drug of choice

for affluent people

who wish to become less-so.

Clip: http://www.societyforqualityeducation.org/

Wed, 7 Nov 2007

Sees an Up-Trend

You might consider taking a look at your charts from the point of view of someone who is not already in them.

You might consider re-writing your last sentence in SVO-p to determine who is doing the saying. (Likely, Pickens says it himself on Bloomberg.)

See Optical Illusion, below.

USU

Wed, 7 Nov 2007

Rocks Process Notes
 

Ed,

I write up notes on the Rocks Process from the Reno workshop for my tribe. Here is a copy. Thanks for a great workshop!
 

Trading Tribe Rocks Process
Reno Workshop Oct 2007

 

Objective: Allow Fred to re-experience pivotal life situations and learn responses that are more useful than those the subject habitually employs in situations which evoke similar feelings.

0. Check-in.

1. Subject says they have a problem (or displays a signature form).Process manager (PM) drills down to get Subject to take ownership of the core issue. PM repeats question: "So what is the problem?" until statement and/or irritation displayed by Subject.

2. Subject gets into the feeling. PM may catch them in a gesture and ask subject to do more of it. Subject develops form and gets to signature form (if known).

3. Subject makes the form as big as possible then remembers and describes a time in early childhood that feels the same. (It's nice to get the first time but not strictly necessary.  Look for something that makes a child fear for survival, and that includes spanking or fear of exclusion from family) Subject also describes 3-4 other situations where they exhibit the same feelings and reactions, some childhood, some adult.

4. PM assigns tribe members to play the roles in the dramas described in step #3. Key roles are:
a) Provoker: person who initially brings on the situation and emotion (e.g. father beating, mother berating, bullies)
b) Donor: role model for Subject's response to the Provoker and others
c) Messenger: neutral person who records the new strategic responses and brings them to the subject

5. Tribe members enact the initial situation.
Subject supplies details to make the role play as accurate as needed to bring up the feelings. Its not necessary to be 100% accurate to bring up the feelings. For example, if the situation involves father spanking with a belt, the father-actor actually uses a belt but hits only hard enough to sting. Use the same words and tone as the subject recalls. Tribe member/actors watch Subject closely to see when they're hooked

5.5 For the initial role play, the subject experiences the situation without the protective rock. PM encourages subject to just experience the confusion and terror appropriate to the age of subject at the time of the initial event.

6. At the end of the initial role play, the Donor presents the Subject with a Medicinal Rock that fits the hand.  Donor says "Take this Rock. It will help you in these situations. You don't have to feel this way. Do <maladaptive behavior> instead and it will help you feel better."

7. Role play 2-3 additional dramas with the Subject clutching the Medicinal Rock in hand. Subject responds as usual, i.e. with the maladaptive behavior indicated by the Medicinal Rock. Again, tribe members play roles as closely as needed to get the Subject deep into their feeling and signature form.

8. PM asks subject to put down the Medicinal Rock
As Subject goes to release it, PM reminds Subject that without that Medicinal Rock, Subject has no protection for these difficult situations. Expect Subject to take a few minutes and put down the rock with difficultly. I imagine that if a Subject is ultimately unwilling to put down the rock, the process ends with the Subject keeping their old behavior.

9. Tribe members suggest 4-5 new, more useful resources (behaviors) that Subject can use in these situations. Messenger takes notes. Suggested resources:

Thank you for sharing your notes.

I do not always stick to an exact sequence.

Attempts to follow a strict formula may inhibit the process.  I prefer to trend-follow the subject in whatever direction he goes.

Some essential parts of the process are:

The subject discovers medicinal responses to his own emotions that entrain recurring problem situations.

 

The subject rejects exclusive reliance on the medicinal responses and invites supplemental pro-active responses. 

 

The subject links the supplemental pro-active responses to his emotions on a deep, automatic level.

 

Making Love

and the Rocks Process,

rarely follow

a logical,

mechanical,

reasonable

or repeatable

path.

Clip: http://www.interiors.intendo.net/

Wed, 7 Nov 2007

Getting Nervous About Attending Tribe

Thank you for sharing your process.

You might consider taking <nervous> to Tribe and allowing yourself to become even more nervous.

Stubbornness

can sometimes indicate

deep nervousness.

TTP can help illuminate

the positive intentions

of both.

Clip: http://www.fablevision.com/

Wed, 7 Nov 2007

Finding a System That Fits

Hi Ed,

I am reading the book for the 2nd time. I very much enjoy it! Also, I am reading FAQ from the start and very much enjoy it! I include an update of my system work. I tried and tried to get my trailing stop tighter, especially with huge open risk, it just did not test out. So I stick with the wider trail.

MM is wider than my former work by about double. The entry is a 50-day breakout, nothing special, I added a few things to filter out some false breakouts. I tested many ideas that would complicate it, but simple is better and an entry the next day at the open seems to test out.

I feel that this type of trading is easier and less stressful. What is happening is, I am learning to create a system that fits me well.

Thank you for sharing your process.

Wed, 7 Nov 2007

Human Brain - Interesting Lecture
 

Ed

You might enjoy this 25 minute video on The Human Brain Journey to the Center of Your Mind, as it relates to phantom limbs, synesthesia and the Capgras Delusion.

http://www.spikedhumor.com/articles/

130759/The_Human_Brain_Journey_

Wed, 7 Nov 2007

Gisele Dumps Ben

Ed,

 

I remember reading somewhere that when shoeshine boys and hotel porters start giving away stock tips then it's time to sell up.

Could Top model Gisele Bundchen be providing a variation on a theme by refusing to be paid in $USD?
According to the WSJ, Gisele is concerned that the USD is losing value.

http://online.wsj.com/article/

Thank you for link.  So far, I don't see the dollar, dollar/yen or gold showing up on magazine covers.

In This Photo

and in the Markets

preoccupation with identifying

tops and bottoms

may interfere with noticing

which way the horse is heading.

Wed, 7 Nov 2007

Rocks Process Feedback

Thank you for sharing your process and reporting on results from the Rocks Process.

The Rocks Process can help identify medicinal response patterns and supplement them with pro-active response patterns.

One Response to Provocation

Another Response to Provocation

Clips: http://www.alexross.com/

angrydonaldbrownmiddle.html

http://www.tvsquad.com/2006/06/03/

Tue, 6 Nov 2007

Guest Visitor : Uncertainty
 

Ed,

I attend the [City] tribe as a guest. I tell the tribe that when God admonishes Adam and Eve not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge, it isn't really a command, it's a friendly warning, like "You'll be sorry!" Once the appetite for knowledge is whetted, there's no respite. The more we get, the more we don't know but want to.

I tell the tribe that "I Don't Know" is a signature attitude of mine. I don't know how I'm supposed to do this TTP stuff, I don't know if it will really work for me, I don't know if I can push through to "get it," yada yada.

Thank you for sharing your process.

Sometimes a form appears to resist the process. 

The skillful Process Manager may continue the process by encouraging the resistance.

In Martial Arts, In Trading

and in Process Management

the master aligns with

the positive intentions of resistance,

Tue, 6 Nov 2007
 

Associate Program:

Exponential Crossover System: Success

(Exchange between Associates)

 

Good job on finishing the first TSP.

You might consider completing the TSP SR and Trends in "R" first. The TSP SR includes techniques not in the TSP EA, such as trading with the long-term trend and stop-specific position sizing. You might benefit by completing all the TSP's before starting to write a program in C#. Once you understand how all the TSPs work, you will have an easier time designing a robust C# program.

The C# program might have the flexibility to back-test more than one strategy. I am happy to discuss on the phone.

-----

Thank you for your suggestion. At this point it is a small step to implement SR strategy and execution in my "R" system. However, I don't want to implement optimization in "R" because of very slow execution, (each run takes about 1 minute to complete, and with hundreds of parameter permutations I see my patience run out quickly). I also can't get "R" to output decimal fractions consistently, and until I solve that I can't verify that my results are accurate. Thus, EA 15/150 run results match to the penny, while EA 85/325 results match to the nearest dime. I intend to investigate this a little further and then decide how to proceed.

-----

I agree that trying to run the optimization on "R" could be frustrating. The first version of the TSPs I build are with Excel & VBA. The calculation time necessary to run the back-test are significant, so running the optimization takes too long. To optimize and add more parameters, C# might be the way to go. I only suggest building the SR strategy in "R" to get comfortable with the way it works. My experience is that once I build a system in excel, it is much easier to think about how to code it. I find it helpful to understand all the inputs and outputs for my system before writing the design document.

Which ever path you take, let me know.
 

-----

The EA 325/85 run matches to the penny, the picture of report is attached. I'm going to implement SR system and bliss calculation in "R".
 

-----

Tue, 6 Nov 2007

Mon, 5 Nov 2007

Optical Illusion

Dear Ed,

Just received this interesting presentation from a friend.  We see what we want to see.

Mon, 5 Nov 2007

Max and Min

see: uncertainty
 

Ed,

You posted the following link:

http://telstar.ote.cmu.edu/environ/

m3/s6/09management.shtml 

which depicts Cost vs Risk.

At first glance I thought it was a radial momentum post. It is exactly the same as the diagram for Lift vs Drag. The point depicted as optimal risk is the same as the point for L/D Max (L over D max) - the point where you get the maximum amount of lift with the minimum amount of drag.

Left of that point you get increased induced drag from flying a slower speed. Right of that point you get increased parasite drag from flying faster speeds.

Yes. 

Finding maxima and minima in many areas of life is the basic business of calculus.

Mastery of Infinitesimals

Clip: http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Mathematics/

18-014Calculus-with-Theory-IFall2002/

Sun, 4 Nov 2007

Progress Report:

Health, Strength, Relationship

Dear Ed and fellow tribe members,

I wanted to report on a remarkable series of events that have occurred in my life as a result (I feel) of my work with the tribe and some other complementary efforts.

I processed some emotions I was having about the loss of a friend who just abruptly stopped calling and offered no explanation for withdrawing from my life.

I missed him terribly and was confused and saddened by this loss. I had neither seen nor heard from my friend in 3 months when I arrived at tribe ready to work.

While experiencing this sadness, a scene entered my consciousness. I was as a small child, less than school age. My parents were fighting, and my mother hysterically imploring my father not to leave the house. (In later awarenesses, my father was a self confessed alcoholic who drank in binge fashion, the leave-taking in question was, presumably, to go off and get drunk).

As the scene escalated, my mother grabbed my fathers shirt in an effort to physically prevent him from going out the door. A button was ripped from his shirt, and flew across the room, coming to rest in front of me as I crouched next to the dryer. I scooped it up and held it tightly, feeling that if my father never returned, at least I would have this small token of him.

Feelings of fear, sadness and anguish washed over me. Like my mother, I wanted him to not go away, to control his behavior, or at the very least tell me where he was going and when he would be back. A huge A-HA came then!

When my friend left without an explanation, and gave me no idea if or when he would be back, I recreated this scenario internally. I anguished, I suffered. After role playing this event with tribe members and using the rocks process, the tribe came up with several alternate solutions to the suffering that occurs in my life when friends or family leave. I recreated a couple of these and immediately recognized the shift in feelings that occurred. I had new tools.

Upon arriving home from your house in the wee hours of the morning I checked my email. There was the first email in several months from my friend. Nothing in the way of an explanation, just including me in an email sent to all in his address book.

At times over the next few months, I fell back into despair. You encouraged and even promoted this feeling, wisely seeing it's positive intention. You allowed me to emote.

Over the next month my friend slowly returned to my life. I recognized the presence of another woman, but ignored this (none of my business) and just kept up my end of the friendship as cleanly as I could.

After several months, he explained his absence and his relationship with this woman. And, while I did not get the sense that it was over with her entirely, his focus returned to me full time. Since then, we have discussed the form our relationship will take, and it has been decided that I will move in with him, and we will look for property in an area that we both love. We have established some common goals, and his attention to this other person seems to have dwindled away.

I used several techniques to remain calm and comfortable during this time. Jealousy, a bugaboo of mine, reared it's ugly head. I acknowledged and felt this feeling without judgment and recognized it's usefulness. I used it to steel my resolve to fight for what I wanted. It became my friend. I remained positive, exercised regularly all the while visualizing the end result that I wanted and both my weight (20 lb loss!) and my spirit were positively impacted.

I came out of this summer feeling happy, healthy and strong. I have the presence of my friend / lover in my life, but also know that if he leaves again I will be okay. All of these changes happened, I believe, as a result of doing the internal work -- starting with my work with the tribe. For that I am grateful. Thank you for all you do.

Thank you for sharing your processes and your successes.

Popping Buttons, Popping Pills

and Popping Out a Favorite Drama

can all serve

to medicate feelings.

Forgiving the medication,

and experiencing our feelings

can set us on a pro-active path

toward realizing our dreams.

Clip: http://bargainbox.com.au/index.php?cPath=29

Sat, 03 Nov 2007

Speaking in Haste : Not True

OK.

You might consider taking your feelings about <telling the truth> to your Tribe.

Miscommunication

is another form

of communication.

Thu, 1 Nov 2007

Rocks Fit Together

Ed, I notice you often have to tackle the issue of intimacy in FAQ. This seems to be a very common issue nowadays. One thing I find interesting as we understand it in the Trading Tribe is that one rock always fits the other in a given pattern. So I see that as far as I don't resolve my own intimacy issues, I am likely to attract partners who have the same problem. For instance, today I was browsing Yahoo! and found this article:

http://dating.personals.yahoo.com/

singles/gettingstarted/63/five-dead-end-

dating-patterns-and-how-to-break-them 

The article seems to be geared towards women who have dating problems. I have already myself engaged several times in patterns like those described by the author with women who, at least on my point of view, are seemingly drama queens.

Over time I came to realize that I also might have been to them a kind of drama king and that our rocks fit nicely.

Thank you for sharing your insights.

Gridlock

People sometimes lock

into mutual stagnation.

The associating feelings of anxiety

may serve to medicate deeper issues.

Clip: http://www.laobserved.com/archive/

Thu, 1 Nov 2007

Thank you for sharing your process and your insights.

You might consider taking your feelings about <the positive intention of compliments> to your Tribe.

Judgments About Compliments

may appear as embarrassment

and may excite self-deprecation

as a medicinal response.

A medicinal response typically shows up

as a re-appearing "signature form"

in a series of TTP sessions.

In TTP we use the Rocks Process

to identity the nature and source

of medicinal signature forms,

and to supplement medicinal responses

with pro-Active responses.

For example,

an alternative response

to receiving a compliment

is to smile and, from the heart, say

"Thank you for the encouragement."

Clip: http://www.blueskyresumesblog.com/

2007/06/index.html

Thu, 01 Nov 2007

Significant Relationships

see: Flirting

Dear Ed,

Thank you so much for you thoughts about significant relationships of Oct 27, 2007. I did my best to be more significant with a friend.

She offers me a sexual relationship. That was the reason of our break-up. This time I try it. I hold her, feel her heart pounding and realize that this is an average affection between two human beings which has no expression in our western civilization. We talk about it and sort it out.

I like hugging and touching quite a lot and am not "always on". But, in western civilization the loving human touch between grown-ups seems to be linked almost exclusively to a sexual love.

Thank you for sharing your process.

You might consider taking your feelings about <friendship, intimacy and sex> to your Tribe.

Sometimes Engaging in Sex

(or in Day Trading)

provides a way to medicate

feelings about intimacy.