Thread: Being told to not write to my Dream Journal

Yikes, the whole coloring thing seems kind of odd. like raspberry said, it's probably something that will give him an opportunity to read into completely meaningless colors to see how you were "subconsciously feeling" at the time. You should ask him why exactly the colors are necessary. He should be telling you the reason for these things.

Yeah, what she told me is that she wants to try if that changes my dreams somehow, I don't see how it would though.

Of course, I could dream about writing to my DJ with different colored pens. :S

I think I just made a huge mistake in telling my counsellor today that I lucid dream. I was being honest when she asked what i dreamed about last night (which was lucid) and she now thinks the reason I'm so tired all of the time is because I'm becoming aware when I should be unconscious. I don't think she understands how much you can actually do, as i couldn't explain everything to her. She said that next time I lucid dream, to try moving an object. At that point i think she freaked out a little bit when i told her I've jumped through things and shot fireballs from my hands, so moving something isn't a big deal.

Lesson of this thread: Don't let counsellors know about lucid dreaming. They twist it, thinking it's a problem.

Totally whack.

Man, I feel for you guys. Of course those unqualified hacks won't be able to accept that you are more knowledgeable and experienced than them in, well, anything. All they know about it is that it's not usually done by most kids, therefore they freak out and will try to "fix" you. With drugs if possible. Expecting them to listen to you or do some actual research would imply they aren't all-knowing already. Good luck.

I don't know where counselors get the nerve to try to interpret dreams anyway. I mean, have fun psychoanalyzing my dream about broccoli teaching me how to sing. Here's my expert opinion: "You're a wannabe therapist using unproven methods to convince other peoples' kids that they have nonexistent problems." How's that? Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

Oh, sorry for the rant. I hate counselors. Obviously that hate came from violent video games, I know because no matter how uninformed I am, I'm a counselor and what I say goes.

and she now thinks the reason I'm so tired all of the time is because I'm becoming aware when I should be unconscious.

Have you mentioned to her that (according to your sig) you haven't even had 5 lucid dreams per month? Or that a lucid dream lasts like ten minutes?

Yeah, I told her that I still get very tired on days I don't get lucid and that's it's a mental thing rather than an actual sleep thing.

I'm not actually sure my max total of lucids per month. I started activily trying to lucid dream in late january (after prelims etc making me stop) and started counting from then, and decided on a small number for my sig and work up from there. But it's picked up again. I had three last week so I'll probably hit that target easily ;P

As for dream interpretation. As I said before, she's lovely, but the dream thing is getting on my nerves. I told her about a recent dream where I saw a man with a blue tail who told me I'd killed someone and then dug up bodies. She then said that this could mean that there's levels to [my current situation] blah blah blah. I don't think she gets that some things in dreams are random...

I wish I hadn't mentioned it. But when she asked what I dreamed about last night I thought I may as well be truthful because that's how counselling is effective. I hope she researches it.

I'm still flabbergasted at that request in the OP though. Write a DJ in different colors? It's a completely arbitrary request that he expects CyperAleksi to blindly follow. He probably hopes Aleksi will follow it blindly and conclude that the counselor actually does have more knowledge on the subject than he does, thus reasserting his authority and trustworthiness after being embarrassed about not knowing about it. Either that or it's some BS about blue means calm, red means angry BS that a 2nd-grader would think up.

I hate to say this and I kind of want to retract what I've said because I think it's too pessimistic and I don't like speaking so negatively about anyone. But that's how I see it. I'm glad that you like your counselor though and hopefully she is open to researching about a new subject.

Originally Posted by Raspberry

As for dream interpretation. As I said before, she's lovely, but the dream thing is getting on my nerves. I told her about a recent dream where I saw a man with a blue tail who told me I'd killed someone and then dug up bodies. She then said that this could mean that there's levels to [my current situation] blah blah blah. I don't think she gets that some things in dreams are random...

I wish I hadn't mentioned it. But when she asked what I dreamed about last night I thought I may as well be truthful because that's how counselling is effective. I hope she researches it.

That's a problem I've discovered... EVERYTHING has deep psychological meaning and needs to be analyzed. I actually used to over analyze everything in my dreams and always went to my myriad of dream interpretation books to find out what it "meant," when really, sometimes it just doesn't mean shit, and it becomes more apparent when you're lucid dreaming... I mean... its one thing to look up unconscious dream symbols, but when you're lucid and actively creating your environment or manipulating in general, it feels like all that "deep" shit falls away. Some things are just things, and I think that ultimately what needs to be looked at is emotion in relation to the actions of the dream.

I'm not saying that dreams aren't metaphors or don't often have deeper and symbolic references... I just find it interesting that counselors that are often trained in psychology all have to go through the "dream analyzing" phase of education. They typically get a watered down, and over-generalized explanation to dreaming (as in.. it's all just in the mind, blah blah blah) and that they are deemed "authorities" in handing down judgment over such things. So often the only 'depth' they attribute to dreams is, sadly, superficial that when a true topic of depth arises (lucid/shared dreaming) it's brushed off.

I hope she researches it, too... I just hope what she comes across she doesn't label psycho-babble

Originally Posted by GuyCecil

I'm still flabbergasted at that request in the OP though. Write a DJ in different colors? It's a completely arbitrary request that he expects CyperAleksi to blindly follow. He probably hopes Aleksi will follow it blindly and conclude that the counselor actually does have more knowledge on the subject than he does, thus reasserting his authority and trustworthiness after being embarrassed about not knowing about it. Either that or it's some BS about blue means calm, red means angry BS that a 2nd-grader would think up.

Yeah, the whole fuzz about my DJ is pretty pointless. Luckily, I get rid of the counsellor when summer holiday comes.

i feel for you man, i kinda went thru the same thing, by any chance is this councilor, a christian councilor?
and does your mum know the real reason you keep a dream journal?

what does counsellor mean in that context? i know what counsel means, and i know that a counsellor in general gives counsel (lol) but in this thread it reads as if every person had their own counsellor at disposal and had a talk with them every day. plus they seem to be pretty incompetent

i think noone knows that i'm interested in lucid dreaming, and i don't know anyone else (who shows it at least). i wouldn't want anyone to read my dream journal though, that's only supposed to be read by me - too many intimate thoughts ect.

I've only had a counsellor for a few months, and meet with her once a week. It's for personal reasons obviously, just some life-challenges I need to pass.

My docter and guidance teacher referred me to her. She comes into my school, pulls me out of class and we have a session for an hour each Tuesday.

Pretty much, I think everyone's going through something in their life, some worse than others, so some people need counselling. In my case, my docter and guidance teacher thought I needed professional help, so they called her in.

I think that the way counsellors have been trained, is to take things we are familiar with and try and make more sense out of them to get details and help us understand our current situation. One of those ways is obviously dreams, but me and CyperAleksi (although his "problem" was the actual dreaming and journalling) know more about dreams than the average person, and dream differently. So the two conflict. Then, they panic a bit (I could see this on her face. She didn't know what to do because no one had brought it up before) and think it's some sort of glitch in the subconscious and then think you need more help. Then the whole thing gets blown out of proportion...

I'm sorry that you experienced this. I am happy that you are proud for standing up for yourself. I think it is fantastic to keep a dream journal. I admire your ability to recall dreams EVERY night. I'm jealous.

At the end of the day what you do is your decision. I think it is important to know that not everybody you know will have interest in dreams the way you do. This is why I subscribed to dreamviews. I needed to find a safe place to talk to people about dreams.

That is such bull shit. The reason I stopped writing is cause I had to wake up for school (which should start later). Do not stop, ignore your counselor, do what you think is best.
Seriously, how could dreaming, or writing down dreams, be a problem???

While we're on the topic, I feel like I should put in a word about my former counselor.

I can honestly say I had a good counselor that actually listened to what I had to say, got all the different sides to a story, &c. She was willing to listen, and I have to say that I think she would listen to what I have to say about lucid dreaming. I have an appointment with her soon just to catch up really quick, anyway, so I'm going to have to do it at some point.

Oh well. I just felt like saying I don't have too much against counselors at this point in time.

Originally Posted by Snowboy

While we're on the topic, I feel like I should put in a word about my former counselor.

I can honestly say I had a good counselor that actually listened to what I had to say, got all the different sides to a story, &c. She was willing to listen, and I have to say that I think she would listen to what I have to say about lucid dreaming. I have an appointment with her soon just to catch up really quick, anyway, so I'm going to have to do it at some point.

Oh well. I just felt like saying I don't have too much against counselors at this point in time.

Well, I don't think that everybody is just shitting on counselors or therapists in general. I had a couple good ones, and a couple shitty ones. It all comes down to the individual, and the individual in this case is an idiot.

A lot more people have a counsellor than I thought. I felt really awkward having one, since like only one other person I actually know does.

Well, so what I've gathered now is that:

The pen thing is for changing the routine of writing to DJ, thus, preventing the obsession/I-have-to-write-to-my-DJ thing from coming up.
I guess this makes sense a bit, since I did have this "Got to check test answers many times to see if they are right" thing that made tests I have in school last hour(s) longer than intended. Although this doesn't change the fact that the counsellor doesn't know anything about keeping a DJ.

In any case, things should work out.