O£STiO.

CW TO BECOMIN{; ~ HWTRADER

experience l~ the more charge II has, giving It mOl'" P"wu to affl'<;t us,
Also, the younger we are when the experience occurs, the more lasting
and powerful the impression will be on our psyche
Once the cmolionally charged or illHuent,al experkncc to"" occurred ,
we talk to OUI>K'lvcs about 't. applYlllg our own SPlil to thc Slory of whm
has just happened_ Ollr ill'c.-p rnation of t"is ~x t,.,ri~ncc is critical to wha,
will happen next, Por ~"a"'plc:
If we te ll ourseh'es tha, a bad experience wa.. merely a Huke or an
accid~nt and nothing 10 tie upset over, we may actually move past it. We
nlay even lay down a p,em ... of ourselves as belllg lueky 10 survive "-ith
minor dam....:", Or, we may thmk Ihm "'" ar~ prNty strong, brav~, and ca·
pable for handlin.o; s uch a bad situatio" so wdl. But, 'f wc Idl oursdws
tlW Ihe samc bad c~pericnc e was e mbarrassing, sha ll'eful , o r terrible alld
tl~~t we are u,ducky and powerles.'!i, we will f""llike a victim making us
vulnerahle III mllre bad thing.. happening 1o us, [ n thi.. C"-"", Ihe pi,:1Ure
thm we create of ollJ"S('l,·"" in our minds will be on~ of powerlessness and
vulnerability,
Once t.he picture ill c",alft! , we lay down th~ "oi""""cr, which can
sound li ke !lus;

• -I am soSh,pid_"
• "I can't lalk in p ublic without embarra.'<..ing myself. "
• "I can never do anything right."
• "I can never succeed fur very lung. I alway. fail in the end."
• "The markets hate m~ They a1"·ay. take bac k mure than they give."
• "I can ne'w keep up a winmngslreak.-

:O;,,\ice how al>solu\~ UK.,.., 81atcnlents an', They a re till!.'(1 wit h the
won ls "alway,." and "ne~~r"_ Th"y "niversali7.., t hl' eXllerien,.., in I.hc ,",U ne
way that l'essi rnisLQ rlu , In L.;om,," } 01" jm ism, Dr_ Martin Seligman's I,md·
mark book o n OfJl.iml~m anrl P""Sinlism. we leam how pessimL'l~ uni,·e . ·
.aU"" each negati..e experi~nce to prove that Ihe world is an unhappy and
unluc ky place fur them. T hese two dynamic processes, (he P""Simi.tic
wurldvicw and U,e creatiun of an unconscious ""If·image, intc""",t to cre·
at~ a motivation ·sappi ng self.image, The jll'SSimist has a bad expericnce
that he ,,,,i"elSah , es and creales an indelibte unconsc i"us imag,' (hat has
a pes..i mistic interl'retalion fu r (he voi"" ""~r_ Then, this image helps hin'
t" interpret all futu,... ex!",rien""" and sioal"''' hi.. reacti"" to th~rn ,
Each ne w experien"" unly pro.'"," the "alidily of Ius picture of lumself
and his life, reinforcing the pessimistic "Iew and its hold over hlil'. If an ex-
»<,ncnce is in perfect align me", with his image ofhimsclf and huw lifc is for
him , he g~1S (0 say , "5<..., (haeS huw it is." SI' uu ld an ,·xpc rience contradict
his piCture ofl"e way th ings are, I'e gets tusay, "This is Ihe e x c~ptiun_"