The Present Is All We Possess
"Were you to live three thousand years, or even a countless multiple of that, keep in mind that no one ever loses a life other than the one they are living, and no one ever lives a life other than the one they are losing. The longest and the shortest life, then, amount to the same, for the present moment lasts the same for all and is all anyone possesses. No one can lose either the past or the future, for how can someone be deprived of what's not theirs?"
— Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
The title of today's meditation is so very true and this is also the reality with trading too of course.
Maybe we made a mistake or two yesterday, or the day before. Maybe we had a great day's trading. It actually doesn't matter now as we are in the present with today in mind, so don't let yesterday's trading, influence what you do today. All we need to do is stick to the plan, following the rules/criteria for our strategies and pounce when we see an opportunity! Rinse and repeat, consistently taking our opportunities when they appear. We need to be patient when there are no opportunities and keep our discipline and not force anything that doesn't fully meet the rules/criteria for our strategies. Patience for growth as I've said many times, is so important!
We can reflect on yesterday and learn from how we traded. We can look forward by preparing for tomorrow and making sure that we have learnt from any mistakes. The present however, is the only thing that we CAN control. The present will define the history by the time tomorrow comes and gives us a confidence in our trading, as we evolve and develop on our trading journey.
We can't change the history; what has happened, has happened! We can't predict the future; what will be, will be!
"The present is all we possess;" so with this in mind, we must be ready and prepared to deal with whatever the market throws our way, every time that we enter a trade!