Thread: Train your memory, who wants to join?

i'm in as well. i tried this when i first read the book in 2003, but i didn't try very hard. maybe now that others are on board, it will give me some motivation.

Hi Sara.. if you could post the information by Stephanie Burns that would be super.. thanks.

3/4

Originally Posted by TalkingHead

Hi Sara.. if you could post the information by Stephanie Burns that would be super.. thanks.

OK, here is an abstract from SB's exercise.
I've been in her on-line class on self management (the Labyrinth), but unfortunately my environment got in the way of completing the whole class, so I downloaded the exercises to continue later on. A very interesting class by the way, about how the brain works (mentally, not biologically seen) and how you can improve 'your brain'.

I'll put it in a {spoiler} quote, cause it's pretty long. It's easy to read though, cause it's kind of funny how SB teaches you how your brain works.
There is copyright on this material, maybe I'll remove it after 1 week cause I don't want any problems.

Spoiler for extra exercise to train your brain on noticing dream signs (or any other signs you want):

Your brain is your Brain

Its purpose is to protect you long enough for you to reproduce

It does your bidding and finds what you command it to seek

Direct its attention wisely or you will find you can just as easily
find mud as gold.



Your brain is a good brain. It works very hard to prove you right. Let me give you an example.

Let's say you drop a chicken. Then you say, out loud (or to yourself): "How stupid can I be?" Let us say you do that.

Well! Your brain will leap to your aid.

It will say back to you,

"Oh, I must find evidence for my master just how stupid he is! Ah, I know! I will help him remember that he forgot his hat yesterday. And, yes, let me point out to him right now that there is a splash of sauce on the front of his new shirt and those people over there are laughing at him! There, I have done my job. Go ahead, ask me another question."

You see, this is a very good brain. It is working hard to find what its master asks for. It does many other good things too. Like spotting a snake quick smart and mobilising all the internal systems to jump out of the way instead of stepping on the snake's head.

The lesson for you to come to terms with is this: If your brain does this automatically, then you can use this knowledge strategically to your advantage. Tell your brain what you want it to seek. If it is there, it will let you know. Then you do not have to work so hard.
You can prepare your brain to notice ANYTHING, and if that "thing" comes within proximity of your 5 senses, your brain will take your attention to it. This has great benefits both in learning and in life.

Your demonstration

You must demonstrate this capability. Without it you will come through all your experiences with hit or miss results. What you find may be of no value simply because you did not ask your brain to focus on the good bits. Like the man in the example above!

To demonstrate, I suggest that you do this! Find the following three image blocks. [cut, here is a referral to some image-cards delivered with the course]

For this test today:

1. In the "chilli hat man" image there is a woman behind him carrying a parcel. Use this image to tell your brain to be triggered by ANYONE carrying ANYTHING. If there is anyone carrying anything around you then you are to notice them. Make that a command to your brain.
2. The big White House has a YELLOW wreath on the top. Use this image to tell your brain to be triggered to notice any yellow signs - on streets, on shops, on buses, on people!

3. The seagull represents all ANIMALS - real and not real. This image will remind you (and your brain) to be stimulated by any animals or images of animals that are in proximity of your senses.


You may set your brain up in the following way. You say to it, "Yo, brain! Listen up! Today I want you to bring anyone you notice carrying anything to my attention. Thanks." You can do these one at a time, consecutively, one of them all day, or all of them all day. It doesn't matter.

The important thing to remember here is that YOU DO NOT NEED TO TRY TOO HARD TO DO THIS. BUT YOU HAVE TO TRY A LITTLE! JUST THE RIGHT AMOUNT. YOU MUST LEARN THAT AMOUNT THROUGH EXPERIENCE.

This is the phenomenon that happens when you get interested in something ... like a particular person, or brand of shoes. You imagine them and that primes your brain. Then, for a few days, it seems everyone looks like that person or everyone is wearing THOSE shoes!

TELL YOUR BRAIN WHAT YOU WANT IT TO DO, THEN WALK (OR DRIVE) THROUGH TIME AND WATCH WHAT HAPPENS. If these items are there, you will find it is brought to your attention.

As you are new at this, you might need to take out the images and "prime" your brain again during the day. See how you go.

This is a very simple and crude exercise. But its implications are HUGE when applied to subtle aspects of life and learning. This is the time that you must learn two things: 1) that your brain likes to find what you ask it to find; and 2) this can be used strategically!

It is important to tell your brain when it is doing what you want it to do or it will run around making things up. It is trying to please. "Is this right? Is this right? Is this right?".
So give it feedback!

Everytime your brain brings your attention to an item you are seeking, I want you to thank it!

Go well! Go Shell!

This exercise is regarded as 'useless on itself, but preparing for next exercises' but I think it's a perfect way of focussing yourself on your dream signs

I See a Bird: Believe it or not, I saw no birds today...
Walk Through a Door: Actually, I did it when I saw a door, but same difference...
I Use a Toilet After Noon: Done.
I See the Stars: Done.

Three out of four ain't bad.

Excellent idea! We do have the ability to train and develop our minds...why not do it?

Originally Posted by Sara

If people are interested, I can include some extra information by Stephanie Burns on how to help your brain on prospective memory tasks.

Dear Sara, the more interesting information of the like you can share with us...the better! I agree with Stephanie on many levels and I've got to admit that her metaphors are pretty funny, hehehe

I used to own LaBerge's book, but gave it to a friend for his birthday. Wishing that he would be a better lucid dreamer than I was! He's had some fun with it, which is the most important!


Anyhow, as for the exercise itself, I shall definitely try it myself. Here are my 4 goals for tomorrow: I will perform an RC the first time I...

See a bird (I like this one)
Interact with somebody
Sit down
Notice something that reminds me of a dream

Will post results tomorrow

Originally Posted by roguext22

i never understand two things...
why everyone "miss" to answer my 3 questions i wrote clearly..
and how everyone manage to misread my sentences and then teach me morality.. its like they enjoy to ignore my questions, and enjoy finding in my sentences some "hidden" messages like im dissatisfied with this thread and, my rude sentences..

Sorry, but if you are not answering my questions or respond to what I'm trying to say, I don't feel the need to answer your questions.

I'm not meaning to be offensive, but the way you build your sentences makes them a bit difficult to understand and I think this is why people misread your sentences. People can only read what is written. If your intention is misinterpreted, you could try to formulate your sentence in another way.
I can understand that writing in English may be a bit difficult for you (I see you have some problems with the articles ('a' and 'the'), which is because I guess you don't have them in your language at all (Slavic language right?) But that doesn't give you an excuse for not answering my questions in return If you would have read my posts more careful (and responded to them ) I'm sure it would have increased the understanding both ways.

Originally Posted by roguext22

well..im little surprised you talk kindly to me, not like the rest..
well its quite easy to do those reality checks then you know what they are.. so all i wanted was to participate in a play - exercise with others.. ( i see others dont like me.. ) + its only 4 rc ( i have full right to get upset and tell little sarcasm about the number of rc.. )

Maybe I have to explain it once again, in different words, because I know it can be difficult to express yourself or understand things when English is not your native language.

Why this exercise?
This exercise is NOT about the amount of reality checks
This exercise is NOT about THE WAY you do your reality checks
This exercise is NOT for training the AWARENESS part of your brain

This exercise is for training yourself to REMEMBER something in the FUTURE

So, can you see now why there are only 4 targets given?

Damn, I really hope this was just about misunderstanding due to a language problem, otherwise I've been typing all this for 'the cat's violin' as we say in Dutch
Extra note to roguext: please see that I put in quite some effort in this post and I would like you to read it with the same amount of effort

It's good to see that many people are joining the exercise! (but where are the results )

I'm posting the targets for the next day a bit early, because I will be away the whole day tomorrow.
Targets for Saturday 24th of November

I will do a thorough Reality Check the NEXT TIME:

• I put a key in a lock
  
• I see an advertisement
  
• I eat anything after breakfast
  
• I see a bicycle

Imprint this list into your prospective memory and remember to check the FIRST time you hit each target.

Good luck!

Today I got 2/4.

Bird: Well I have a pet bird- so that didn't take long.
Door: After I got off the computer had to walk through a door.
Stars: FAILED.
Toilet: FAILED.

I have a question!

So has this been helping people recognize their dream signs and successfully complete RCs? I mean, I'm asking how well this is working for everyone so far.

Sounds like a great idea! I would like to join in.

My memory could use improving. I will start today and post my results later.

Here are my results so far today...

Originally Posted by Tengu

See a bird (I like this one)
Interact with somebody
Sit down
Notice something that reminds me of a dream

- Heard a bird, did a RC. Saw a bird, did a RC. - Success!
- As soon as I woke up I looked at my dog and it looked at me, so I did a RC. The first time I saw someone and said Hi today though, I did not think about it until a few seconds after. (Hey it was a pretty girl what can I do!) - Failed.
- I sat down at my computer.. forgot to do a RC. Then told myself I'd try again once I'm out of the house.. Sat in my car, and forgot! - Failed.
- This one is kindda random... haha. Nothing dream-like has happened yet, but I'll report on that one later!

Therefore, so far I've got a 1/3 !

I always get funny looks when I do a nose RC

I tried this a while back, and it worked really well. Then I stopped (can't remember why)

A funny dream when doing this- I kept RCing in the dream, but lost lucidity. I was still doing the nose RC, however, and went around showing all my friends that I had this new ability to breathe through a plugged nose! XD

2/4:p

Saturday:
Insert key in lock- n/a (This does not apply to me- I don't use keys. But I'll count keys to other things... which also do not apply)
See an advertisement- Completed
Eat after breakfast- FAILED
See a bike- n/a (I do not venture outside on Saturdays)

1/4 total, 1/2 applicable ones.

Originally Posted by Kyhaar

I always get funny looks when I do a nose RC

Hahaha yea.. I always wonder if people notice all these little things that I do through-out the day. Like plug my nose and try to breathe ?! and rub my hands and poke the insides all the time. I bet some people think I'm nervous or crazy or something! That's just hilarious Think I'm gonna make a thread about this actually..

I've been away all saturday and did not check the target list after I woke up, so didn't score any of them yesterday...

Targets for Sunday 25th of November

I will do a thorough Reality Check the NEXT TIME:

• I see a pet or animal
  
• I look at myself in a mirror
  
• I turn on a light
  
• I see a flower

Imprint this list into your prospective memory and remember to check the FIRST time you hit each target.

Good luck!

I put a key in a lock - I did not put a key in a lock
I see an advertisement - I forgot when I saw one
I eat anything after breakfast - Complete
I see a bicycle - Complete

2/4

Originally Posted by Sara

I see a pet or animal
I look at myself in a mirror
I turn on a light
I see a flower

I've got 4/4 for this one today!

I scored 2/4 today.
But I counted reading the word 'flower' in Marks journal as a target, because there are no flowers outside anymore.

i did all of them.. its good the 4 tasks are different everyday

4/4

Haha ive been meaning to copy those tasks out of EWLD, this is perfect. Thanx
~Lucas

Slacked off today, and managed a whopping zero out of four...

Damn...