The Difference Between Pain and Suffering
I have a somewhat regular conversation with my kids about the difference between pain and suffering. Despite my efforts at applying and reapplying sunscreen, they’ve both gotten burnt on their shoulders once. They’ve scraped knees, stepped on sharp objects, and taken hard hits from the balls they use in their respective sports. They’ve also spent money on items they regret, trusted friends they knew they shouldn’t, and said some things they’ve wished they could take back. In short, they’ve experienced pain.
Pain, in life, is inevitable. We’re always going to have times where we forget to do what is good for us, trip and fall, simply make mistakes or get hurt by someone else. That is a part of the human experience and much of it seems fairly unavoidable.
My argument with the kids is that while pain may be unavoidable suffering is not. If they get bonked on the head with the ball in a game it hurts but they’ve got the game to play and that’s fun, so they quickly shift their attention away from the tender spot on their noggin. If they get bonked on the head doing chores well then it is the worst thing ever and suddenly the pain completely incapacitates them and the wailing hurts the ears of every dog within a 5 mile radius as they crumple to the ground in agony…so surely they cannot be expected to continue their chores, right? Right?! 
While it’s really not that dramatic, they do seem to feel the pain much sharper and for much longer depending on their state of mind when they’ve hurt themselves doing something they didn’t enjoy doing in the first place.
As adults our pain is much more complicated and layered and convoluted with other emotions and experiences. I contend, however, that we still, by a large measure, have a choice in whether or not we suffer from the pain we experience in life.
If we take a losing trade, for instance, that hurts. But if we love trading and we know we followed our plan we can easily move on.
What happens when we don’t follow our rules, though, and take a massive loss as a result? Or what if we got impulsive and didn’t have a plan at all and we’ve been doing that repeatedly and just can’t seem to change our habit? Then we not only feel the pain of the loss, but we also beat ourselves up over it – and for how long? Suffering ensues. Does it have to be a natural extension of the pain to suffer?
I would go so far as to say that the suffering is pointless. We don’t learn anything from it and we merely prolong our agony, which changes our habits, which changes our belief systems, which changes our thoughts, which changes our interactions with the world and more likely in a direction that will create more pain and then more suffering and then we’ve created a vicious cycle that is feels impossible to break.
I’m the first to admit that there are varying levels of pain, both literal and figurative types and I’m certainly not trying to discount how deeply certain events/mistakes can hurt us; however, once the actual pain is gone I do believe we have a choice about whether or not we suffer. As difficult as it is sometimes to redirect my emotions, I’d still rather not suffer. I don’t grow from that. I’d rather dissect my experience and see what I can do differently next time and put a plan in place to do it. It may not be the right plan and I may get hurt again, but at least I’m moving forward. I’m also empowered from my experience, rather than suffering from my foible.
What about you? Do you see a difference between the two? Do you think it is always a choice or do you think there are exceptions? Do you ever find yourself making the choice? How do you deal with it?
Fundamental Report for the Week of June 20, 2010
Monday, June 21, 2010
Risk appetites increased significantly in the rolled over Asian session creating a USD selling frenzy almost across the board as China officially announced it is creating a true floating currency and unpinning the Yuan’s price from that of the USD.
The one notable exception was the USD/JPY which interestingly created a converse reaction to the news, strengthening to the JPY side of the pair rather than the usual weakening during the period of market confidence. I’ve mentioned the possible decoupling of the Yen as a proxy for risk and we may be seeing more of that in the near future.
The biggest winners on the shift in Chinese sentiment were the commodity pairs with the CAD’s increase to near parity and the AUD and the NZD both retesting values that haven’t been hit since mid-May. These will be the primary focus of my attention over the coming months as this week’s news supports last week’s news out of Russia to diversify more into commodity backed markets.
On a purely economic level, New Zealand did produce positive Visitor Arrivals in May, moving from -1.8% to 1%. Combining that with their positive May Credit Card numbers there may be a bit of a surprise out of June’s Retail Sales that could further boost this pair out of its 2010 descent.
With no real news to further the rally, the New York session did not pick up where the European session left off, however, as the exchange market cooled off and returned to its end of week levels from Friday.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
I can’t seem to find any news on what British Chancellor George Osborne actually said at his emergency budget meeting, but whatever it was it was enough to create a short term boost to the Cable, bringing it back to 1.48 after the Asian and European session sell off action. The pair remains stuck there, by the end of NY session, mostly on what seems like overall market malaise after a somewhat uneventful news day.
There was a kick to the head coming out of the U.S. that led to some USD weakness for a little while in a surprising downturn in US Home Sales. Normally, this announcement is not market moving, however when market expectations are expecting a 430K increase and is met with a decrease of 1 million the shock to the system can sway market sentiment, especially as it is still somewhat gun-shy when it comes to any sign of risk – or at least any sign that stabilization/growth aren’t going as well as hoped. One more thing to note is the decrease of the Richmond Fed Manufacturing Survey decreased (predictably) from 26 to 23. By itself, it doesn’t mean much…but it is the 2nd of 6 similar announcements that I watch as clues to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to decrease in June. July may offer a bit of surprise in the production and manufacturing arena.
The Euro seemed to be making some strong, corrective measures away from its recent highs off of slow news and a decreasing Current Account. That by itself isn’t any surprise, but I think the market was really moving more on news coming out of the European Commission who is touting the idea of an additional tax on funds being loaned to countries that violate the debt rule established by the Union. While no clear decision has been made yet, the risk that the EU may be, yet again, in a state of flux was impetus enough to move the Euro short.
The EUR/JPY and GBP/JPY seem primed for a sell off as well and it will be interesting to see if the JPY side of that will re-coordinate with risk aversion which will be the first I’ve seen of it since Hatoyama resigned a couple weeks ago.
The NZD/USD seems to be seeing more positive signs than anyone since they’ve posted positive Credit Card Spending for the month of May. Last week they increased in Visitor Arrivals as well which bodes well for their Retail Sales numbers. Remember, they’ve also got a lot to gain from Russia and China’s new investment plans into commodity currencies and are still under pressure to increase rates. So the down trend on this pair may be finishing off for the time being.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
A dissenting voice in the Bank of England’s meeting set the tone for the day as Andrew Sentence became the first within the institution itself to make a case for a rate increase citing the strengthening economy and inflationary pressure within the British economy as reason for flexibility. Though the BoE sees more reason to remain cautious and has kept rates at .5% the GBP/USD rose past long held resistance near 1.4950 on the news.
Not the only surprise in today’s marketplace, the European Central Bank actually added stimulus, in the form of government and corporate treasury instruments, to the floundering economy which took back the Euro-session gains for the USD and boost the EUR/USD back up to 1.2300. The Euro was in desperate need of this push, today in particular, since the entire Euro Session was comprised of negative Purchasing and Production news.
The Federal Reserve was quick to jump on the Euro-Zone’s troubled economic picture and coupled it with the US’s surprisingly low Home Sales news (-32.7% in May vs April’s 14.8%) to point to a stumbling point in global economic growth. Speculation was enough to stall the markets for the remainder of the day.
The one notable exception to the stall was the CAD as it hit its own speed bump with lagging Retail Sales numbers (from 2.1% to -2%) as was telegraphed by last week’s Wholesale Numbers which slumped into negative territory as well. The USD/CAD climbed to 1.0420 level on the news.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
It was a slow day today with no real surprises. The USD managed to hold its ground even with an expected, but depleted Durable Goods number (from 2.8% to -1.8%). It seems there was a little return to ‘normalcy’ in the market place as signs of global economic slowdown (dare I say turnaround) seemed to bring a hint of risk aversion back to currency prices across the board. Even strengthening the JPY a bit on the fear injected from poor US and Euro news as both equities markets plummeted.
The Kiwi was able to hold its ground near recent highs however with a continued increase in Trade Balance, jumping to 767M in May over April’s 656M. New Zealand has experienced an increasing Trade Balance every month this year further lending credit to the underlying fundamentals for the currency.
With no strong reports to move the Cable one direction or the other it stalled near 1.50 and pulled back slightly to 1.45 on what seems to be simple ‘wait and see’ kind of behavior.
Next Monday:
EUR Germany’s CPI
USD Personal Income
USD Personal Spending
USD Dallas Fed Manufacturing Activity
Next Tuesday:
CAD Industrial PPI
CAD Raw Materials Price Index
CAD GDP
Next Wednesday:
EUR Germany’s Unemployment
GBP Gross Domestic Product
USD Chicago PMI
Next Thursday:
USD Durable Goods Orders
NZD Trade Balance
Next Friday:
USD GDP
Triffany Hammond helps traders of all levels, gain the tools, resources and guidance necessary to build on their strengths and work around their weaknesses so that they can make the best possible decisions for themselves in the Forex Market. Triffany is a regular speaker and contributor at 
hmmm interesting thought line! i totally agree.
however, i find that many of the times i seem to ‘enjoy’ beating myself up, ie going over and over again in my mind about how painful it is, and thereby developing a ‘pity-party’ mind over such pain/ suffering.
i know that i should move on, but its seems its a case of ‘the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak’ type scenario…
but am trying more and more to consciously form better habits, and move on..
thanks for the thoughts on pain and suffering
LOL, bonked on the head doing chores – can still happen as big kids too…. plus or minus the wailing!
Like Jeremy, I totally agree, there is a difference. Pain is sometimes unavoidable but suffering we have a choice. We are ‘response-able’, we get to choose how we experience the pain. Sure, every now and then it can be useful to wallow and marvel at our undisciplinedness, but only for short periods of time, sometimes around the 1st Fridays of the month. ;p
That said, I’m not sure we *always* have a choice. For example, I haven’t thought it through in depth and this just came to me but something along the lines of the Kübler-Ross 5 stage model of grieving but applied to trading… We are human beings *and* human ‘doings’ after all.
Ultimately, I believe that nothing has any meaning except the meaning we give it. Ed Seykota said it best: in the end, “everyone gets what they want from the markets”. Choose wisely…
Hmmm….I know what you both mean in terms of the times when we seem to enjoy the pity party…or at least cling to it.
I can’t speak for other, obviously, but I can certainly think of times when by trying to deny my grief I merely prolonged it and it wasn’t until I gave myself permission to feel what I needed to feel was I able to get past it.
So there is a lot to be said for the ability to allow for the pain without assigning our entire existence to it.
This is from Aby. His posts are showing up on a black background and he doesn’t seem to have a comment box. So here’s what he sent:
I absolutely agree, pain is passing, suffering is psychological, however the grey area is when the pain period or the type of pain reaches the point that it starts to effect the overall picture so that begins to border on suffering, if the bonk of the ball to his head during a game takes him out of the game and possibly more games as a result that starts to effect the overall picture beyond the simple pain period, so that if 1 trade doesn’t work out then that’s pain that will blow over, but if there is a consistent loss in someone’s trading then there is something wrong with the bigger picture that can border on suffering. The only real solution to suffering is to re-evaluate the bigger picture, is my target in trading realistic, am I going about it correctly, should I change the way I trade etc … once these have been solved, then someone can go back to just plain old pain !!!
PS I’ve never heard of a parent discussing with their kids the difference pain and suffering, usually parents just teach it to them straight … “Son ! I will now teach you the real difference between pain and suffering !!!!” AAAAAARGGGH !!!!!!!