As far as I can recall the only assignments today were:Read chapters 1, 2, and 3 in Lucid Dreaming, a Concise Guide (the book that comes with a CD) Keep a dream journal: every night, or as many nights as possible. On nights you want to record your dreams, make the resolution that you will write down your dreams tonight. [That was editorializing from Laura, so feel free to ignore it, but I find I sometimes have a strong resistance to nailing down dreams on paper, especially if I think they are boring, incomplete, or "not worth the trouble". So I simply have to decide ahead of time that I will write down my dreams tonight no matter what. Try it and see if it helps!]

Sorry I've taken so long to update this. The assignments Stephen gave out in the 3rd class (April 21 2004) were:Read Chapters 2 & 5 in ETWOLD (paperback). Reread?? (that's what I wrote down anyway) chapter 3 in LDCG (hardback). Prospective Memory task: Remember to touch the hinge side of every door you go through this week. Place a reminder somewhere to write down your results each night.How are you all doing with #3? I must have passed through over 100 doors so far this week and I have remembered five, count'm five times. I knew this would be hard, but not this hard!

And congratulations class, we've now passed the total number of posts that the 2003 class made on this forum. And we're not even halfway through the 9 weeks of class!

Yeah, so that door thing... really tricky. I taped a note next to my bedroom door and so far I've remembered to do it about half of the times I've gone through that particular door. And nowhere else.

My question though, is why precisely we're doing this, since I don't remember that being made very clear. It seems off-hand that it's simply to show how difficult future memory is (a concept I believed pretty thoroughly by the time I got home that evening). Is it possible, though, that future memory is a learnable skill? I.e. will practice remembering to touch doors help us remember to notice dreams? Or will we only learn to remember the doors? I'm not sure whether this is a skill that's transferrable in this way or not. The answer to that question would hugely affect my motivation (and therefore success rate).

Of course, I did have my first (little) lucid dream the night after the last class, so maybe it's working after all, regardless of the doors. :-)

Hallo Graham,

My idea why we have to carry out the door task (which is fun, by the way), is that it should point out to us, how selective our consciousness is, just as the changing pictures we saw in class. For me this is part of the explanation, why people see the same accident very differently (unless they know exactly that it is going to happen and focus on the spot where the cars are about to crash seconds later) or, as I experienced with my boyfriend, while we drove passed a bus stop, why we see different things by selecting the sources that interest us. He saw a very huge black dog (he's scared of dogs) and I saw someone with a music-related t-shirt (I love music), though objectively it was the same scene. Touching doors should be easy, right? It is not, because doors are nothing we usually pay attention to. If we start experiencing our environment more critically, we'll probably do the same in the dream world. Just guessing... My score today: already 17 doors! It's become much easier since I started counting them (meaning since I read the homework assignment). Ok, now I'm outta here (and into the sun). See you!

Christina

The assignments Stephen gave out in the 4th class (April 28 2004) were:Fill out the "next dream reports" for your very next lucid dream and your very next non-lucid dream. Read chapter 4 in LDCG (hardback). When you have 12 dreams recorded in your dream journal, do the Dreamsigns exercise on page 47 of ETWOLD (paperback). At your own pace, continue reading ETWOLD, especially the chapters on applications of lucid dreaming (chapters 7-11). (Suggestion from Laura: start with whichever applications sound most inviting to you. Wish Fullfillment, Exploring Dream Reality, Adventure: chapter 7. Peak Performance/Mental Practice, Rehearsal for Living, Reducing Performance Anxiety, Increasing Self-confidence, Creating Positive Futures: chapter 8. Creativity, Mental Modeling, Building a Lucid Dream Workshop: chapter 9. Overcoming Nightmares, Sleep Paralysis: chapter 10. Wholeness and Heath, Accepting the Shadow, Opportunities for Growth, Finishing Unfinished Business: chapter 11). Remember that #1 should be your next dream. Not your next interesting dream or your next dream with good recall, but your very next dream. (Take comfort from my experience: My very next lucid dream after class was embarrassingly wispy. Absolutely no visuals at all, just some floating a short ways out of bed! I dutifully reported it even though half the report was "zeroes", and you should do the same.)

Hey class,

what's the homework for next week? Could anybody post it here?

see you!

Christina (who had no lucid dream because of lack of sleep in Maui)

I don't remember if anything specific was assigned (especially since so many people were gone last week). I'd say continue with reading the chapters about applications of lucid dreaming, like Laura mentioned before. Also, I think we're going to be talking a lot about nightmares this week, so reading the chapters on those would probably be good. That's chapter 5 in the hardback and chapter 10 in the paperback.

-Graham

thanks Graham!

talking about nightmares tomorrow? I'm so happy I haven't missed that. I was pretty disappointed that it was supposed to take place last week.

see you

Christina

First, the assignment for TODAY (whatever day you first read this): If you haven't already, please pick which 4 nights (between tonight and the night of June 1) you will do the exercises that are on the handout from yesterday's (May 19's) class. (If you were not in class, you can get a copy of the handout at http://www.lucidity.com/lr3060.pdf .) Please go to your calendar, Palm Pilot, refrigerator door stickies, whatever you use to keep your weekly schedule, and write those 4 nights into your schedule!

(If you feel you need a little extra push, you can also post the dates you've chosen right here in this discussion, for us all to see!)

On those 4 nights you'll need to go to bed around your usual time (a little earlier than your usual bedtime is OK), set your alarm to wake 2 hours earlier than usual, get up and stay completely awake either 30 or 60 minutes (depending on your last name - see instructions), then go back to bed for 90 minutes of "napping opportunity", doing MILD (instructions are on the handout) and sleeping as much as you can.

You DON'T have to stay in bed until you've managed to be asleep for 90 minutes. Just until you've spent 90 minutes back in bed doing MILD and giving yourself the opportunity to sleep as much as possible. So the total time devoted to this experiment will never be more than 2.5 hours per morning (plus some reporting time after your napping time is over), regardless of how well you sleep.

The handout has more details on exactly how to spend that 30 or 60 minutes of wakefulness, instructions including what to do when you waken from a dream during the nap (including checking which nostril breathes more easily), and a column for reporting the results of ONE dream. Fill out the column for only the LAST lucid dream from your NAP (not night) period, or if you had no lucid dreams during your NAP period, fill out the column for your LAST dream during your NAP period. (Although the column should only be filled out for ONE dream during NAP time, please also attach a "dream report" - as from your journal - of ALL LUCID dreams during both NIGHT AND NAP times.)

This is just a summary, and I haven't run it by Stephen. Please read and follow the actual handout. If anywhere you feel my description contradicts the paper instructions, follow the paper instructions, please.

And finally, I hope some of you will try it soon, in the next night or two, so we can find out if there are any parts of the instructions that need clarification. I will check this forum every day for questions, so if you have any questions about how to do this, or how to fill out the form, please post them right here in this discussion.

Good luck, and pleasant napping!

Hey you all,

I'll be pretty much out of the conversation until thursday next week because my best friend from Germany is visiting. So I'm gonna be in for the experiment after that, let's say from friday next week, four days in a row.

sweet dreams to all of you!

Christina

I forgot to mention that I'm calling this the "Maureen's New Puppy" technique of lucid dream induction! ;-)

Well, I already posted the homework but apparently fell prey to the same confusion some of you have experienced: I forgot to click "Post Message" the second time, after seeing the preview. Sorry about that.

Assigned June 2, due June 9:

Finish the 4 nights of napping experiment. Try to finish all 4, but if you've done less than 4 nights as of June 9, please bring and turn in the reports of whatever nights you did do - even just 1.

Read chapters 11 & 12 in ETWOLD (paperback).

Read chapter 5 in LDCG (hardback).

Read chapter 9 in original "Lucid Dreaming" (now out of print). Chapter 9 is on the website at http://www.lucidity.com/LD9DIR.html or you can navigate to it by going to http://www.lucidity.com/ and then scrolling down to "Chapter 9: Dreaming, Illusion, and Reality" and clicking the link.

Optional: formulate counter-examples, alternate theories, or thought experiments that could contradict the idea Stephen put forward in class about our perception of reality being a model formed in our brain, as though on a TV screen. (I don't claim he said exactly that. Post your response to whatever you remember him saying on the subject.) Instead of writing and handing it in, please post your response right here in the "Homework" topic. Use the box below that says "Add a Message." And don't make my mistake; remember to click "Post Message" twice!