morning  almost  as  completely as  they were rehearsed
during the night. But there are typical failings.
     Sometimes we  will  experience  an  annoying feeling
that   the  dream  we   recall  in   the  morning   does   not
compare  either  in clarity or completeness to the dream
we  remember having had during  the night.  In fact, there
may remain only a disappointing fragment which refuses
to  yield  to  even our  most  patient  efforts to  expand it.
And  sometimes  in  the morning  we  will  awaken  to the
frustrating  discovery  that  we  have  a  vague  but certain
memory  of   having  dreamed,   but   that   the   dream   is
beyond recall.  Then  we   realize   that   while   we   were
rehearsing  the dream that  night we drifted back to sleep.
The  nocturnal  rehearsal method  can fail us, then, either
because  of  the difficulty with  which  the dream submits
to memorization or because of  an insufficient degree of
wakefulness  when  we reviewed  the dream.  If this is the
case,  we  can  take another  lesson  from  the  laboratory
approach  and  during  the night make a  written record of
the dreams which awaken us.
     For a  few nights  it might  be a  useful  experiment to
record   in  detail  whatever  dreams   awaken  us. But,  in
general,  the degree   of  arousal  and  effort  required  to
initiate  and  accomplish  this task  would  leave  us  wide
awake.  So   rather  than   abandoning   our  vigilance,  we
might  do  better  to  make  brief  notes  that  we  can rely
upon to deliver up our dreams in the morning.  To do this
successfully  is  probably  the  most efficient  use of our
vigilance. As we rehearse  a dream that  has awakened us,
its  most  vivid  aspects will suggest  themselves  as cues
for recalling  the  entire  dream. Note—paper,  of course,
should be kept conveniently close at hand. To arise, even
slightly,  from    the  relatively   pleasant  experience   of
rehearsing  a  dream to pick up  a  pen  and paper to make
notes  will  seem  to   require   heroic  moral  effort. The
physical effort needed to make notes must be minimized.
Even  a light is  not necessary,  for it is possible  to write
in the dark without much trouble. The slight fatigue from
making  these  notes and the confident  feeling  of having
secured  the  dream  make  it easy  to drop  back  to sleep
without further concern.

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