Just use an RF transmitter of some kind and you can put it under the pillow if you want.
Yeah but: the macro sends a 16% brighten command every four minutes. That means I'd have to hit the remote to counteract that each time.
Perhaps it can be done with nested macros and a flag. Have a "master" macro that triggers a second macro every four minutes, the number of times you want it to happen.
At the beginning of the macro, it first sets a "brightening" flag, which it clears at the end.
The second (nested) macro would be the one that does the 16% brighten, but it checks that flag first. If the flag is on, then it sends the command. If not, it does nothing.
So, your "cancel" macro simply has to clear that flag, and you won't get any more of the 16% commands.
I don't remember, however, if a nested macro will still check a flag. I think the trick was to create a dummy appliance module with the same HC/UC as the second macro, and have the first one turn that on. I think that will still trigger the second macro, with flag-checking.