Trading the Market Journal

Let Virtue Shine Bright

"Does the light of a lamp shine and keep its glow until its fuel is spent? Why shouldn't your truth, justice, and self-control shine until you are extinguished?"—MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 12.15T

02 October

The Most Valuable Asset

"But the wise person can lose nothing. Such a person has everything stored up for themselves, leaving nothing to Fortune, their own goods are held firm, bound in virtue, which requires nothing from ch

03 October

A Mantra Of Mutual Interdependence

"Meditate often on the interconnectedness and mutual interdependence of all things in the universe. For in a sense, all things are mutually woven together and therefore have an affinity for each other

04 October

All For One, One For All

"That which isn't good for the hive, isn't good for the bee."—MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 6.54Another tough one to try and compare today's meditation to trading.The only comparison that springs to

05 October

Words Can't Be Unsaid

"Better to trip with the feet than with the tongue."—ZENO, QUOTED IN DIOGENES LAERTIUS, LIVES OF THE EMINENT PHILOSOPHERS, 7.1.26Today's meditation is short and sweet!The message is loud and clear;

06 October

Looking Out For Each Other

"It's in keeping with Nature to show our friends affection and to celebrate their advancement, as if it were our very own. For if we don't do this, virtue, which is strengthened only by exercising our

07 October

A Selfish Reason To Be Good

"The person who does wrong, does wrong to themselves. The unjust person is unjust to themselves—making themselves evil."—MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 9.4We seem to be on a bit of a run of late, w

08 October

A Higher Pleasure

"Yes, getting your wish would have been so nice. But isn't that exactly why pleasure trips us up? Instead, see if these things might be even nicer—a great soul, freedom, honesty, kindness, saintline

09 October

Set The Standards And Use Them

"When the standards have been set, things are tested and weighed. And the work of philosophy is just this, to examine and uphold the standards, but the work of a truly good person is in using those st

10 October

Reverence And Justice

"Leave the past behind, let the grand design take care of the future, and instead only rightly guide the present to reverence and justice. Reverence so that you'll love what you've been allotted, for

11 October

Honesty As Our Default

"How rotten and fraudulent when people say they intend to 'give it to you straight.' What are you up to, dear friend? It shouldn't need your announcement, but be readily seen, as if written on your fo

12 October

Always Love

"Hecato says, 'I can teach you a love potion made without any drugs, herbs, or special spell—if you would be loved, love.'"—SENECA, MORAL LETTERS, 9.6So today's meditation is all about love.I must

13 October

Revenge Is A Dish Best Not Served

"How much better to heal than seek revenge from injury. Vengeance wastes a lot of time and exposes you to many more injuries than the first that sparked it. Anger always outlasts hurt. Best to take th

14 October

Don't Get Mad. Help

"Are you angry when someone's armpits stink or when their breath is bad? What would be the point? Having such a mouth and such armpits, there's going to be a smell emanating. You say, they must have s

15 October

Give People The Benefit Of The Doubt

"Everything turns on your assumptions about it, and that's on you. You can pluck out the hasty judgment at will, and like steering a ship around the point, you will find calm seas, fair weather and a

16 October

Spread The Word

"Some people with exceptional minds quickly grasp virtue, or produce it within themselves. But other dim and lazy types, hindered by bad habits, must have their rusty souls constantly scrubbed down. .

17 October

The Benefit Of Kindness

"A benefit should be kept like a buried treasure, only to be dug up in necessity. . . . Nature bids us to do well by all. . . . Wherever there is a human being, we have an opportunity for kindness."�

18 October

Frenemies

"There's nothing worse than a wolf befriending sheep. Avoid false friendship at all costs. If you are good, straightforward, and well meaning it should show in your eyes and not escape notice."—Marc

19 October

Good Habits Drive Out Bad Habits

"Since habit is such a powerful influence, and we're used to pursuing our impulses to gain and avoid outside our own choice, we should set a contrary habit against that, and where appearances are real

20 October

Marks Of The Good Life

"You have proof in the extent of your wanderings that you never found the art of living anywhere—not in logic, nor in wealth, fame, or in any indulgence. Nowhere. Where is it then? In doing what hum

21 October

Heroes, Here And Now

"Such behavior! People don't want to praise their contemporaries whose lives they actually share, but hold great expectations for the praise of future generations—people they haven't met or ever wil

22 October

It's Easy To Get Better. But Better At What?

"So someone's good at taking down an opponent, but that doesn't make them more community-minded, or modest, or well-prepared for any circumstance, or more tolerant of the faults of others."—Marcus A

23 October

Show The Qualities You Were Made For

"People aren't in awe of your sharp mind? So be it. But you have many other qualities you can't claim to have been deprived of at birth. Display then those qualities in your own power: honesty, dignit

24 October

The Fountain Of Goodness

"Dig deep within yourself, for there is a fountain of goodness ever ready to flow if you will keep digging."—Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 7.59An interesting meditation again today and we can most c

25 October

Two Tasks

"What, then, makes a person free from hindrance and self-determining? For wealth doesn't, neither does high-office, state or kingdom—rather, something else must be found . . . in the case of living,

26 October

Three Parts, One Aim

"The best and the greatest number of authors have asserted that philosophy consists of three parts: the moral, the natural, and the rational. The first puts the soul in order. The second thoroughly ex

27 October

We Reap What We Sow

"Crimes often return to their teacher."—SENECA, THYESTES, 311Today's meditation goes much deeper than anything that I can think of, when trying to compare it to trading.It does however, demonstrate

28 October

We Were Made For Each Other

"You'll more quickly find an earthly thing kept from the earth than you will a person cut off from other human beings."—MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 9.9.3Another interesting topic in today's medita

29 October

Character Is Fate

"Each person acquires their own character, but their official roles are designated by chance. You should invite some to your table because they are deserving, others because they may come to deserve i

30 October

Who Gets The Lion's Share?

"Aren't you ashamed to reserve for yourself only the remnants of your life and to dedicate to wisdom only that time can't be directed to business?"—SENECA, ON THE BREVITY OF LIFE, 3.5BI really like

31 October

You Were Born Good

"The human being is born with an inclination toward virtue."—MUSONIUS RUFUS, LECTURES, 2.7.1–2As we come to the end of October, a really tough one today to compare to trading!When developing a tra

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