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consequences of building a stronger will. Just as in the first part of the exercise, first examine
and contemplate each potential positive result of a stronger will, then write it down. Again, if
you feel strong positive emotions as you contemplate the benefits that could be yours the
satisfaction, recognition, enjoyment, achieve-ment allow yourself to dwell on these emotions.
Then focus on transforming your feelings into a powerful desire to de-velop the necessary will.
3. Create an image of yourself with a strong will.
Now see yourself already possessing a strong will, think-ing and acting the way you would
think and act if your will was fully developed. Fantasize about the best of the possible worlds
that would be within your reach with a highly developed will. See yourself as you could be. Let
this  Ideal Model of yourself, as Assagioli called it, power your intention to develop your will.
As with other organs and functions of our bodies and minds, the will can be strengthened by
exercise. To spe-cifically strengthen a particular muscle group, we employ exercises aimed at
exercising just that group. In strength-ening the will, likewise, it is useful to train the will in
isolation from other psychological functions. 3 This can be done by performing  useless
exercises. William James, the founder of American psychology, wrote that you should  keep
alive in yourself the faculty of making efforts by means of little useless exercises every day.  4
An example of this sort of exercise is one proposed by Boyd Barrett in his book Strength of
Will and How to Develop It. 5 Every day, for seven days, the trainee should stand on a chair for
ten minutes, while trying to remain contented. One man who practiced this exercise reported
after the third day s session,  Have had a sense of power in performing this exercise imposed
by myself on myself. Joy and energy are experienced in willing. This exercise  tones me up
morally, and awakens in me a sense of nobility....  6
You can make many daily activities and experiences into exercises of the will. For example,
you could make an exercise of remaining serene in trying situations at work, or retaining your
patience when stuck in traffic. Below, we provide a program for training your will.
EXERCISE: STRENGTHENING YOUR WILL
Below is a list of  useless exercises:
file:///H|/KaZaA%20Lite/My%20Shared%20Folder/((lucid)%20dream...0Stephen--Exploring%20The%20World%20Of%20Lucid%20Dreaming.htm
" Move fifty paper clips from one box to another, one at a time, deliberately and slowly.
" Get up and down from a chair thirty times.
" Stand on a chair for five minutes.
" Repeat quietly, but aloud:  I will do this,  while beating time for five minutes.
" Walk back and forth in a room, touching in turn a certain object on each side of the room
(say, a vase on one side, and a window on the other) for five minutes.
" Get out of bed fifteen minutes earlier than necessary in the morning.
" Resist completely the impulse to complain for an en-tire day.
" Write 100 times,  I will write a useless exercise. 
" Say hello to five people to whom you ve never before spoken.
" Find a poem you like, about twenty lines, or 200 words long, and memorize it.
1. Start with one task from the list above
On the first day, select one of the tasks above, and do only that one. Focus on the task and your
feelings as you perform it. Try to maintain a calm state of mind, free from impatience or
speculation about the results of the exercise. When you are done, take notes on the thoughts and
feelings you experienced. If you succeeded in com-pleting the task, the next day go on to Step
2. If you failed to finish or do the task, try again with the same task the next day.
2. Add another task
After completing Step 1, select another task, and per-form both it and the one you did in Step 1
on the same day. Again, maintain a placid frame of mind during the tasks and take notes after
you are done. Do these two tasks for two days (or until you successfully complete them on two
days).
3. Add a third task
On the fourth day, add a third task. Do all three tasks for two more days. Continue to take notes
for the rest of the exercise.
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4. Drop one old task and pick up a new one
After completing three tasks on two days, drop one of the old tasks, and add a new one, so that
you still have three tasks. Again, perform all three tasks on two days. Continue to drop one task
and add a new one after two days with a set of three until you have succeeded with all of the
tasks.
5. Experiment on your own
Continue the exercise under your own direction. You can make up your own tasks, and add as
many as you like to your daily regimen. Don t give yourself too many, how-ever, or you might
get discouraged. Remember to try to feel contented as you perform the tasks don t feel
im-patient, or eager for reward.
Exercises in Concentration and Visualization
Many of the lucidity induction procedures in this book involve visualization. For example, the
dream lotus and flame exercise in chapter 4 requires that you be able to visualize a flame [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]