Can You Approach The Fire?

It's day 175 of documenting 2025.

How hot can the fire be?
Just a thought 🤔
And I'm talking about the kind of fire that refines a normal diamond.
I want to be sure tho...
Are diamonds purified with fire?

I don't think so....
It's gold that is purified by fire.
(ChatGPT made it clear 😄)

Taking this analogy into one's life, fire represents challenges and trials 🔥
No one would ever wish to pass through fire, but for growth, we all have to.
So we can be refined.

Here's a poem I came up with:

I’ve grown in silence, bruised but bold, 
No hand to guide, no arms to hold. 
I’ve faced the dark and made it mine
I rise alone, and that’s just fine. 

I’ve learned to love the quiet space, 
To move with fire, not beg for grace. 
They care, I know; but still it’s me 
Who climbs this wall, who sets me free. 

So let them watch; I won’t pretend. 
I’ll break, rebuild, and bloom again. 
A wild rose born to own her name, 
Not here for pity; here for flame.

Here for flame 🔥
That's what got me thinking...
How hard do the trials and challenges need to be for one to get refined?
My answer....God knows.

Well, that was just a side thought that came to mind last night.
Let's get to the sections for today.

365 Days With Self-discipline
📌 On Improving Self-Control by Using Your Other Hand

PS. Shared the whole note this time.

"Using the mouse, stirring your coffee, opening doors.
This requires people to practice self-control because their habitual tendency is to use their dominant
hands."
Quote by Thomas Denson

One interesting exercise to improve your self-control is to start using your other hand for the things you usually do with your dominant one. For example, use your non-dominant hand for brushing your teeth, pouring drinks into a cup, washing yourself, doing the dishes, opening jars, stirring coffee, or opening doors.

Psychologist Thomas Denson had people use their non-dominant hand for two weeks for any task that was safe to do that way.
After two weeks, people in the group using the non-dominant hand controlled their aggression better.

(What! 😲)

What does it have to do with self-control? It’s because aggression, or virtually any other thing you control by exerting self-discipline, is an impulse.
Just like you automatically open doors with your dominant hand, so do you impulsively reply with anger, grab a cookie, or choose the elevator instead of the stairs.

Conscious change in your automatic behaviors, such as intentionally using your non-dominant hand, can then help you improve your ability to control impulses, and by extension, make you more self-disciplined.

I know, it’s a wild theory, but why not try it?
Even if it only produces small improvements, it’s still a fun experiment.

No comments on this one 🤐
It's very understandable.
Besides, it would be fun to try, right?
Totally!
Let's move on to Meditations.

Meditations
📌 Book 3: In Carnuntum

13. Doctors keep their scalpels and other instruments handy, for emergencies.
Keep your philosophy ready too—ready to understand heaven and earth. In everything you do, even the smallest thing, remember the chain that links them.
Nothing earthly succeeds by ignoring heaven, nothing heavenly by ignoring the earth.

I like this last sentence, I like it very much.
This is something you can paste on your wall...so you see it every morning when you wake up.

14. Stop drifting. You’re not going to re-read your Brief Comments,
your Deeds of the Ancient Greeks and Romans, the commonplace books you saved for your old age. Sprint for the finish. Write off your hopes, and if your well-being matters to you, be your own savior while you can.

15. They don’t realize how much is included in stealing, sowing, buying, resting, seeing to business (not with the eyes, but another kind of sight).

Hmm 🤔
I don't quite understand number 14 and number 15
Maybe I should ask ChatGPT.
Lemme do so now.

(One prompt later...)
Here's what ChatGPT said:

Here's what Marcus Aurelius is getting at in simple terms:

In point 14, he's urging himself (and us) to stop wasting time on distractions and delays.
He’s saying: "Stop pretending you’ll go back and study everything later. Time is running out. If your well-being truly matters to you, stop waiting for someone else to fix things—save yourself now."
It’s a call to urgency and personal responsibility.

In point 15, he's reflecting on how many actions—like stealing, buying, or even resting—carry deeper moral or philosophical weight.
He’s saying we often go through life doing things without realizing their full impact.
He's also suggesting there's a deeper way of “seeing” life, not just with the eyes, but with awareness and insight.

Overall, it’s a push to wake up, live with purpose, and see beyond the surface of everyday actions.

Yep! I definitely understood that 😌
I hope you did as well.
That would be all for today.
Thanks for reading 🎀

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I hope to get yours as well.
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You can also catch up on former posts and read specific sections.Just visit the main site, Documenting 2025.

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I'll see you there 😉

I'm Duon Ada.
I'm documenting 2025,
And I'll see you tomorrow.
Ciao 💕