Trading the Market Journal

Control And Choice

"The chief task in life is simply this: to identify and separate matters so that I can say clearly to myself which are externals not under my control, and which have to do with the choices I actually

02 January

Education Is Freedom

"What is the fruit of these teachings? Only the most beautiful and proper harvest of the truly educated — tranquility, fearlessness, and freedom. We should not trust the masses who say only the free

03 January

Be Ruthless To The Things That Don't Matter

"How many have laid waste to your life when you weren't aware of what you were losing, how much was wasted in pointless grief, foolish joy, greedy desire, and social amusements — how little of your

04 January

The Big Three

"All you need are these: certainty of judgment in the present moment; action for the common good in the present moment; and an attitude of gratitude in the present moment for anything that comes your

05 January

Clarify Your Intentions

"Let all your efforts be directed to something, let it keep that end in view. It's not activity that disturbs people, but false conceptions of things that drive them mad."— Seneca, On Tranquility of

06 January

Where, Who, What, And Why

"A person who doesn't know what the universe is, doesn't know where they are. A person who doesn't know their purpose in life doesn't know who they are or what the universe is. A person who doesn't kn

07 January

Seven Clear Functions Of The Mind

"The proper work of the mind is the exercise of choice, refusal, yearning, repulsion, preparation, purpose, and assent. What then can pollute and clog the mind's proper functioning? Nothing but its ow

08 January

Seeing Our Addictions

"We must give up many things to which we are addicted, considering them to be good. Otherwise, courage will vanish, which should continually test itself. Greatness of soul will be lost, which can't st

09 January

What We Control And What We Don't

"Some things are in our control, while others are not. We control our opinion, choice, desire, aversion, and, in a word, everything of our own doing. We don't control our body, property, reputation, p

10 January

If You Want To Be Steady

"The essence of good is a certain kind of reasoned choice; just as the essence of evil is another kind. What about externals, then? They are only the raw material for our reasoned choice, which finds

11 January

If You Want To Be Unsteady

"For if a person shifts their caution to their own reasoned choices and the acts of those choices, they will at the same time gain the will to avoid, but if they shift their caution away from their ow

12 January

The One Path To Serenity

"Keep this thought at the ready at daybreak, and through the day and night — there is only one path to happiness, and that is in giving up all outside of your sphere of choice, regarding nothing els

13 January

Circle Of Control

"We control our reasoned choice and all acts that depend on that moral will. What's not under our control are the body and any of its parts, our possessions, parents, siblings, children, or country �

14 January

Cut The Strings That Pull Your Mind

"Understand at last that you have something in you more powerful and divine than what causes the bodily passions and pulls you like a mere puppet. What thoughts now occupy my mind? Is it not fear, sus

15 January

Peace Is In Staying The Course

"Tranquility can't be grasped except by those who have reached an unwavering and firm power of judgment — the rest constantly fall and rise in their decisions, wavering in a state of alternately rej

16 January

Never Do Anything Out Of Habit

"So in the majority of other things, we address circumstances not in accordance with the right assumptions, but mostly by following wretched habit. Since all that I've said is the case, the person in

17 January

Reboot The Real Work

"I am your teacher and you are learning in my school. My aim is to bring you to completion, unhindered, free from compulsive behavior, unrestrained, without shame, free, flourishing, and happy, lookin

18 January

See The World Like A Poet And An Artist

"Pass through this brief patch of time in harmony with nature, and come to your final resting place gracefully, just as a ripened olive might drop, praising the earth that nourished it and grateful to

19 January

Wherever You Go, There Your Choice Is

"A podium and a prison is each a place, one high and the other low, but in either place your freedom of choice can be maintained if you so wish."— Epictetus, DiscoursesSo this is all about making ch

20 January

Reignite Your Thoughts

"Your principles can't be extinguished unless you snuff out the thoughts that feed them, for it's continually in your power to reignite new ones. . . . It's possible to start living again! See things

21 January

A Morning Ritual

"Ask yourself the following first thing in the morning:What am I lacking in attaining freedom from passion?What for tranquility?What am I? A mere body, estate-holder, or reputation? None of these thin

22 January

The Day In Review

"I will keep constant watch over myself and — most usefully — will put each day up for review. For this is what makes us evil — that none of us looks back upon our own lives. We reflect upon onl

23 January

The Truth About Money

"Let's pass over to the really rich — how often the occasions they look just like the poor! When they travel abroad they must restrict their baggage, and when haste is necessary, they dismiss their

24 January

Push For Deep Understanding

"From Rusticus . . . I learned to read carefully and not be satisfied with a rough understanding of the whole, and not to agree too quickly with those who have a lot to say about something."— Marcus

25 January

The Only Prize

"What's left to be prized? This, I think — to limit our action or inaction to only what's in keeping with the needs of our own preparation . . . it's what the exertions of education and teaching are

26 January

The Power Of A Mantra

"Erase the false impressions from your mind by constantly saying to yourself, I have it in my soul to keep out any evil, desire or any kind of disturbance — instead, seeing the true nature of things

27 January

The Three Areas Of Training

"There are three areas in which the person who would be wise and good must be trained. The first has to do with desires and aversions — that a person may never miss the mark in desires nor fall into

28 January

Watching The Wise

"Take a good hard look at people's ruling principle, especially of the wise, what they run away from and what they seek out."— Marcus Aurelius, MeditationsThis is definitely something that all trade

29 January

Keep It Simple

"At every moment keep a sturdy mind on the task at hand, as a Roman and human being, doing it with strict and simple dignity, affection, freedom, and justice — giving yourself a break from all other

30 January

You Don't Have To Stay On Top Of Everything

"If you wish to improve, be content to appear clueless or stupid in extraneous matters — don't wish to seem knowledgeable. And if some regard you as important, distrust yourself."— Epictetus, Ench

31 January

Philosophy As Medicine Of The Soul

"Don't return to philosophy as a task-master, but as patients seek out relief in a treatment of sore eyes, or a dressing for a burn, or from an ointment. Regarding it this way, you'll obey reason with

John's Journal

Conquering FOMO