In one of my previous posts, I wrote about how I want to practice becoming more patient and disciplined this year and beyond; not just in my trading, but also generally in my life. In that same post I mentioned how I would start by doubling down on practicing mindfulness. It is something I’ve been doing for some time, but I never really used the benefits that come with it. This post is about mindfulness and about how I’m currently using it to become more patient and disciplined.
What mindfulness is:
Mindfulness is about being fully present and aware of what we are doing as human beings, without being too concerned about what is going on in our surroundings. To put it another way, with mindfulness practice, you become intensely aware (by focussing) of what you are feeling and sensing in the present moment. Mindfulness is practicing being present. For me it is not so easy to explain in a couple of short sentences. But I did read somewhere that to understand mindfulness, it’s best to practice it and I agree with that.
What are the benefits of mindfulness?
There are many benefits that come with mindfulness. Mindfulness can:
- Help coping with stress, depression, worry and anxiety.
- Help with improving sleep.
- Help improve your general well being.
- Help in reducing distractions / help improve your attention span.
- Help with your emotional health.
- Help you become more aware of your thoughts, feelings and emotions, which can be used to improve you as a person.
Mindfulness practice basics:
Practicing mindfulness doesn’t have to be complicated. A very basic way to start out is to find a quiet place and get into a comfortable position. Close your eyes and relax your body, then focus your attention on your breath. Follow your breath as you inhale and when you exhale (how it moves through your body). Your mind will wander, it’s normal, so try not to stress about it, just acknowledge the thoughts then turn your attention back to your breath. That’s it.
You can start doing the practice only a couple of minutes a day and increase it as time goes on. A good idea is to have set / fixed time as to when you will practice it in your day (make it a routine). Be kind and gentle to yourself as your thoughts can and will wander a lot.
There are many ways in which you can practice mindfulness, the above is very basic, but it is a start. You can always move on to other methods as time goes on.
What mindfulness does for me:
I can definitely attest first hand that mindfulness made me become way more aware of my thoughts, feelings and emotions.
Let’s say I’m angry for some reason, I WILL KNOW that I’m ANGRY; it’s almost like that emotion (anger) is screaming inside my head, telling me this is not my normal state and asking (almost begging) me to do something about it.
The same can be said when I’m just being lazy, when I don’t follow my trading plan, when I’m doubting myself, when I am impatient, when I lose my discipline and so much more. All those thoughts, feelings and emotions like negative thinking, fear, anger, guilt, desire, sadness, joy, happiness and disgust (to mention a few), became so much more enhanced after I started practicing mindfulness.
Not every time, but in many instances my decision making also improved. It’s almost like something tells me that maybe I should just pause and think things over before I make a decision. That has helped not only in trading but also in other more general situations in my life.
I do know practicing mindfulness works for me. I can’t say how long it took me to become more aware of my thoughts, feelings and emotions. I also started and stopped many times, because in the beginning I didn’t think it worked; I’m so happy that I didn’t give up altogether. If you decide to give it a try, I ask you to give it a reasonable amount of time, don’t give up too soon.
From my experience, I know mindfulness can make you more aware of your thoughts, feelings and emotions, but the onus is still on me to choose how to respond to them. That’s important because if I ignore them altogether, or don’t use them to become a better person and trader, the whole exercise is useless in my opinion. Like when I’m losing patience or discipline, I will be very much aware of it because of my mindfulness practice, but it will not help me much if I don’t act on it. In future posts I will write more on how I use mindfulness on how to become a better person and trader (with regards to patience and discipline).
There are many ways to practice mindfulness. Did you know that there are practices / exercises such as mindful walking, reading and eating? What I’m saying is that there are many resources on the internet from which you can learn about mindfulness and it’s benefits. Hopefully this post gives you your start. If you like this post, then give this one a read.
Thank you so much for reading. Hope you enjoyed this post. I hope you are well.
Thanks and Regards,
Trading SOS SOS