I listened to a Dharma talk by Phra Paisal Visalo, who shared a story about a dentist who was also a stock market expert. He mentioned a lady in the trading room who made a profit of 10 million baht from stocks. The dentist congratulated her, saying, 'Congratulations, auntie.'

The lady replied, 'What is there to be happy about? If I had sold my stocks two weeks later, I would have made 20 million.' A few days later, the dentist couldn't find her and asked others in the trading room, only to learn that she was so stressed she ended up in the hospital.

People reading this might think, 'Is she foolish? She's stressed over a 10 million baht profit?' The general perspective is that she made 10 million, but from her viewpoint, she felt she lost 10 million.

Oh, the person who made 10 million is stressed because she thinks she lost 10 million. In reality, most people would be so happy they might faint if they made that much.

During the New Year, I gave my driver a special bonus of 3,000 baht, and he smiled broadly, grinning from ear to ear. If someone won 3,000 baht in the lottery, they would boast about it for ages. Yet, here is someone who made 10 million and ended up in the hospital due to stress. I believe happiness in life depends on whether we see what we gain or what we lose.

Back in 2013, I had 4 million shares of Intuch, which I bought at over 70 baht each. The stock rose to 100 baht, but I didn't sell. A few months later, it dropped to 75 baht, and I ended up selling at break-even. If I thought like that lady, I would have to lie in a coffin, not just go to the hospital, because my loss would be ten times hers. But I chose to look on the bright side: ten years ago, I only had 100,000 baht. Even if my profit dropped to 100 million, I've come a long way. In stock trading, there are gains and losses; if it were all gains, I'd be richer than Buffett by now.

In 2010, during the city riots, a hot pot restaurant lost four branches to fire. The branch manager was very stressed, telling the owner about the losses amounting to tens of millions. The owner, however, was relaxed and said, 'It's okay; we have over 300 branches. Losing just four is lucky.' If it were an average person, they would be complaining about those four branches that burned down. This owner chose to focus on the 300 branches that were still intact and overlooked the four that were lost.

Phra Paisal also preached that we often don't think about the good things we have. We tend to focus on what we lack, like why we aren't as beautiful or wealthy as our friends, without appreciating that we have all our 32 body parts.

Imagine if one day we had a serious accident and could no longer walk, having to sit in a wheelchair for the rest of our lives. Would we still want to be beautiful or rich?

We probably wouldn't want much; just being able to walk like everyone else would be enough. But do we ever take a moment to be thankful for our legs? Things like that.

When I first entered the stock market, my idol was the richest person. But now, I don't think that way anymore. My idol is someone who is skilled in stocks and enjoys investing. I don't admire people with billions if they are only focused on making money and have no happiness in life. For instance, on weekends, instead of traveling, they are always working and have little time for family because they are too busy reading news and analyzing data, even though they are already more than wealthy enough. I don't want to live that kind of life.

Because, in reality, a person with 1 billion baht and one with 50 million probably don't live that differently...

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