Moods & Feelings

“Many bankers are steeling themselves for the global financial crisis to both last longer and grow deeper, a shift in mood that could magnify the potential for upheaval in markets and economies world-wide…

“The fact that yesterday's Bear Stearns deal puts a paltry $2-a-share value on the storied investment bank, which as recently as a week ago was trading around $70, is unlikely to assuage fears that the worst is in the past.

“The next four weeks will be critical in determining whether or not bankers' gloomy mood is justified. Tomorrow, the worlds' biggest banks and brokers will start reporting precisely how much money they lost in the first quarter on bad investments, on top of previous losses. These reports will also hold vital clues to what they feel the future holds.

“As last week's meltdown at Bear Stearns shows, bankers' mood swings can sometimes bring about the very scenarios they fear.”

(“Banks Fear a Deepening of Turmoil.” Carrick Mollenkamp and Mark Whitehouse. Wall Street Journal: March 17, 2008. pg. A.1)

ONCE AND FOR ALL -- feelings shape where we look, how we see, how we understand, what we believe, and how we decide to act on what is perceived and interpreted.

Not only do our actions generate the world upon which we are acting, but more powerfully, our actions are the product of a causal chain of feelings, perceptions, interpretations and beliefs.

Even the "objective," formula-rich world of high finance demonstrates this time and again.