If

by Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936)

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

(One of my favorite poems; it is precisely in this manner how I want to live my life.)

To Live

"To live content with small means," observed William Henry Channing, an eighteenth-century inspirational and spiritual American leader, "to seek elegance rather than luxury and refinement rather than fashion, to be worthy, not respectable, and wealthy, not rich, to study hard, think quietly, talk gently. Act frankly. To listen to stars and birds. To babes and sages with open heart, to bear all cheerfully, do all bravely, await occasions, hurry never."

"In a word, to let the spiritual unbidden and unconsciousness grow up through the common. This is to be my symphony."

There is no ...

amount of money in the world can buy hunger and desire.

Wimbledon

Today, a magnificent epic tennis battle took place at Wimbledon between the 14 Grand Slam winner, Roger Federer, and his American challenger Andy Roddick. It was a battle of roller coasters where both players tried to wrestle the control away from each other.

After four hours of hard fighting, the match reached its climatic end in the fifth set, where both players exhibited impossible nerves and will. 8 all, 9 all, 10 all ... audiences both in the arena and around the world could not believe what they were watching and how long the players could play at such a high level - they simply will not quit.

Unfortunately for Andy, after giving everything he had, a couple of mistakes finally crept in in the 30th game of the set (the set!), and went down 16-14.

This perhaps will be hailed as one of the greatest tennis matches of all times. As a tennis fan, I feel blessed to have the privilege of watching both of these men competing with everything they have; they are not just a testament for their sport, but for human spirit as well.

Congratulations to Roger Federer - you are the greatest tennis player that ever lived and probably ever will live. It is unlikely anyone will ever surpass your achievements in future generations. It is a gift to watch you play with such grace and elegance.

As for Andy Roddick, you are a hero with tremendous heart. You never gave up today and you inspired so many people around the world with what is possible when you have the will.

When Roddick was asked if he struggled to stay positive after losing the second set, he replied: “You know, at that point, like everything else, there's two options: you lay down or you keep going. The second option sounded better to me."

And what else can one add to that? That's as plain as it gets, both on and off the tennis court.

Keep going Andy. You da man!

Can you ...

stop the murmuring of the brook?

When you can, you'll have true freedom.

Love to Take a Loss

A good trader loves to take a loss.

Successful traders confront the possibility of being wrong, and thus, when the time comes to take a loss, he does it without hesitation.

Your losing trades do not diminish you as a person. You are not you losing trades. You are also not your winning trades either.

They are simply by-products of the business you are in.

Once

Well, this Memorial weekend turned out badly - I was not feeling well and consequently was rather unproductive. As a treat before going to bed, almost half-hearted I decided to watch the Netflix film I been ignoring called "Once", and it was irresistibly charming.

What a sparkling little gem! It is powerful in its simplicity; completely unpretentious, it captures your attention and never lets it go. Real characters, authentic emotions, and the music just captivates you.

Why can't we make more movies like this?! Almost with no budget and stars, "Once" is a much more enjoyable film than most of the Hollywood's today. Go see it, you'll be enchanted.

There was this one scene in the movie when the guy and the girl first met and played a song together in a local piano shop. This is possibly one of the most intimate and powerful scenes I have ever seen - it captures that magic moment when two human beings really connect with each other, those precious moments that make all other moments in your life seem dull and lifeless. Yea, those ones, the ones that you really lived and never seem to fade from your memory.

The song they were playing is called "Falling Slowly".

I adore Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova for making this beautiful, beautiful film in a time when watching bad ones is the norm. Bad movies rob you of life, this one enriches yours.

Even though I feel terrible from my sickness, watching this made me smile.

The First Turn

The first turn toward success comes when you remind yourself to relax and find that center of calm within yourself that is always there, always present, always available.

Man and Buddha

Man fancies himself to be the most highly evolved organism in the universe, but in the view of Buddhism he stands midway between an amoeba and a Buddha. And because he falsely sees himself as no more than this puny body, just a speck in the universe, he is constantly endeavoring to enlarge himself through possessions and power. But when he awakens to the fact that he embraces the whole universe, he ceases his grasping, for he no longer feels a lack within himself.

In the Lotus Sutra the Buddha relates that with enlightenment he realized that he possessed the universe, that all the beings were his children, and that he needed nothing more than his begging bowl. He was, in truth, the richest man in the world.

The Brain Is Wider Than The Sky

The Brain — is wider than the Sky —
For—put them side by side —
The one the other will contain
With ease — and You—beside —

The Brain is deeper than the sea —
For—hold them — Blue to Blue —
The one the other will absorb —
As Sponges — Buckets — do —

The Brain is just the weight of God —
For — Heft them — Pound for Pound —
And they will differ — if they do —
As Syllable from Sound —

Poem by Emily Dickinson

Tomorrow

There is no tomorrow.

Tomorrow is a fantasy, an illusion, a figment of your imagination. Don't pin your hopes, dreams, aspirations on that.

Tomorrow does not exist. Anything can happen tomorrow. You could lose your job tomorrow, you could get sick tomorrow, and you could die tomorrow.

The universe could end tomorrow.

You are not defined by what happens tomorrow, you are defined by what happens today.

You are only defined by what you do today.

Are you ready to show the world who you are?

Music for Your Enjoyment

The Beautiful Woman

Physical beauty is an external expression of the spirit. It grows and is cultivated internally and without conscious effort it is manifested externally. Therefore, only a woman who has discovered her true nature, her "self", can be truly beautiful. Genuine beauty is all-encompassing and is present not only in physical appearance but in movement, voice, thought and feeling.

A beautiful woman radiates from within; her complexion glows and her eyes shine. Her movements and gestures are poised and graceful, they flow with a natural rhythm. The entire body of a self-realized woman will be beautiful because she is deeply aware of her inner beauty and this awareness is transferred to all who come in contact with her. The humility, compassion and love of a beautiful woman are genuine and a mystical quality is present in her aura.

The "look" of the beautiful woman is never out of style because, without effort and regardless of how she dresses or in what environment she functions, she is continually making the style - the style of her individual beauty. Since the sensitive woman has perceived that beauty takes the form of a continual inner unfoldment, endlessly changing in color and hue, becoming ever more intense and expressing itself as a unified whole, her quest for beauty becomes a process of discovering and revealing more and more of her inner being, of her true nature, of her real self.

- Thoughts for the day, 19th day, Richard Hittleman's Yoga 28 day exercise plan

Poker and Trading

Although on the surface poker is nothing like trading, I find they are two very similar "games" and the experiences and patterns from one can be transferred to the other. Here are some examples:

• Both are games of people; "zero-sum" games that the result is based on people's perceptions and actions.
  
• Majority of the "players" are bad ones. 80 to 90 percent "players" have no idea what they are doing. That's how one can win, consistently.
  
• Most "players" tend not to spend real time to seriously work on their games. They tend to mistaken things they overhear as real knowledge without internalizing most of them. This is good because it is enables someone the chance to win, provided that someone takes a different approach.
• Sometimes the best thing to do is do nothing. In poker sometimes you have to fold 20 to 50 times, in trading you have to let many trades go. Not an easy thing to do in both cases.
• "Being good" is not judged by how you play a certain hand or a trade; it is judged by how you fair in 100 hands or trades.
• Bad players bemoan the "bad lucks" they have, good ones work on their discipline and system.
• The only way to "win" is by playing without clinging, without attachment, without thinking about the past or the future. In other words, play the game with the presence of your mind, totally in the moment.
• You system must be so internalized and rehearsed that you can act without thinking. You must simply react, not think. When you think, you are already dead.
• To win you must minimize your losses, and maximize your gains. You lose more times than you win, but your winners make up for your losses.
• Even when you "play" correctly, you can lose. That's OKAY. Be happy that you "played " correctly.
• Different methodologies can be (and need be) applied to different "stages" of the game. Have the mental flexibility to adapt when necessary.
• You can never predict the outcome; try to do so is fatal. You are just trying to get an "edge" so that it is more probably that the result, after a number of hands or trades, will be in your favor.
  
• There is no game. It is a reflection of your mind and character.
  

A Great Sin

As I look back on my life, I realize that one of the worst sins that a person could make, is going through his/her life by taking "shortcuts". If you make a habit out of this, at best it will prevent you from reaching your potential, at worst it will destroy you.

There is NO shortcuts in life. Every single shortcut you take will eventually come back to hunt you.

Every single one of them.

All real success, real happiness in life can only be achieved through real, authentic, hard work. That is the ONLY way.

Forget about sexy slogans like "Work smarter, not harder"; it's CRAP.

Unless you have the discipline and character to work harder, working smarter has no value to you.

Innovation, creativity, ingenuity all are results of hard work and dedication; not substitutes.

It matters not how smart you, how experienced you are, or how lucky you are. Don't take the shortcuts; they will ruin your life.

This is one sin you do not want to commit.

Trust me on this one. I know.