[caption id="attachment_2682" align="alignright" width="150" caption="Photo by circo de invierno"][/caption] The more I stay in the market, the more I realised that being calm and steady is the only way to win consistently. I've dealt with higher volatile instruments before and the conclusion is that you don't want to be too happy when you win and too sad when you lose. In the short run, what you see is the variability of your system, not the returns. A short run of good wins will be interrupted by a short run of bad losses. Since today is Hohoho day, I use the opportunity to hammer in some reminders for myself with regards to my love-hate-relationship with the market. Not in any particular order of importance, 1. Be zen. Treat both your wins and your losses with equanimity. For the boh tak chek, equanimity describes the unattached awareness of one's experience as a result of perceiving the impermanence of momentary reality. It is a peace of mind and abiding calmness that cannot be shaken by any grade of both fortunate circumstance and unfortunate one. 2. Spend some of your winnings. I think it's important to buy yourself something nice, to close in the winning. Money is just a means, not the end, so I think it's important not to accumulate money but to do something worthwhile with the money. In your death bed, I don't think that you'll worry about not making more money. Converting money into nice memories is what I'll do. Read more...