Some traders occasionally wallow in their mistakes and losses.

On occasions other traders spend a lot of time attempting to pursue happiness with their trading.

Using non-trading examples, we will perhaps come to see that both of these processes can be either self-defeating or tend to consume much energy with limited benefit.

Wallowing in Suffering

As a result she tends to avoid suffering by exercising her emotions, continually seeking pleasure and suffers much as a result!

You will not be too surprised that she drinks alcohol for pleasure and to "relieve suffering".     Her mornings after, she describes as more suffering!

She says she is lonely and takes considerable care to have at least one party a month at her home and loves to cook several times a week for others - perhaps it gives an excuse for tasting the food or perhaps because "no-one should have to live alone".     She says she is always particularly lonely the day after the party.

Her home is full of bric-a-brac.     Almost every wall is festooned with pictures, wall-plates etc.     She says many of her cupboards cannot be opened as items would fall out.     Some windowsills have more than ten items on them.

Every item in her house seems to have a human story behind it - she cannot part with any single piece as there are strong friend and family connections and associations attached to each and every item.     It would cause her suffering to part with any one of them.

Are you surprised to find she dislikes cleaning and keeps buying more bric-a-brac?

What is going on here?

Perhaps there are complex issues involved here.     But at one level, there is much pleasure seeking, and attempts at suffering suppression, deferment or avoidance.

And it is, as if by trying to suppress or avoid suffering, she ends up wallowing in her suffering, perhaps transmuting one kind of suffering into another.     Her strong feelings about suffering perhaps cause a focus on suffering and so cause it to persist in one form or another.     What we resist tends to persist.

The result is, in her eyes, a lot of suffering and proof of her original view that "suffering is evil".

Pursuit of Happiness

The declaration of independence, 1776 includes the following sentence:

• We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.

It is possible to pursue happiness - and to find it.     What is somewhat difficult is keeping it once we have found it.

Our brains are designed to get used to almost anything - it is part of our adaptation skills.

Another example is in the use of heroin.     Slowly but surely, most heroin addicts need steadily increasing doses and/or reducing intervals between doses to give the same level of pleasure that was earlier provided by smaller quantities and/or at longer intervals.

So to remain in a state of happiness, we would probably need increasing stimuli just to keep the same state.

Pursuing happiness is perhaps not the best use of our resources.

Learning to Trade

Rather than wallow in our mistakes, we must take our suffering as traders as a tool to learn through.

A lesson that the ever-helpful universe is giving us - "I, the universe do not work that way - try another way."     And if we do try another way - if it works, we have learned something - if it also fails, we have learned something.

Instead of trying to pursue that which is of fleeting value if we find it, let us instead steadily raise, one step at a time, the base level of happiness that we start from.