Characteristics of a Trustworthy Dream Interpreter

Before we purchase a product or use someone's services, we normally check for quality assurance to avoid costly mistakes and to make sure we invest wisely. We can search Google for feedback, consult experienced friends, ask for references, or contact the Better Business Bureau. We act with deliberate faith and power when we know what we are getting ourselves into.

This principle is true if you are a dreamer searching for help in understanding your dreams. Dream interpreters are much like any spiritual advisor, counselor, or professional--they listen to you and speak their 'feedback' into your mind and spirit. In this day and age, it is wise to discern the intentions and abilities of such a person before you give them any authoritative voice in your life.

Questions to ask a prospective dream interpreter:

• Where and how were you trained? Answers vary vastly--anywhere from "I went to dream school for 10 years and have interpreted thousands of dreams under supervision," to "I took a psychology class in college," to "I read a book," to "I have interpreted two of my friends' dreams and know what I'm doing."

• What dream interpretation method do you use? There are roughly four major, most popular approaches in dream interpretation, vastly different in perspective--Freudian, Jungian, Ancient Hebraic, and Artificial Intelligence. Each is unique regarding the perceived Source of dreams. As you interview your interpreter, you will be able to quickly clue into which one he or she uses. More about these dream interpretation approaches on my website.

• What is your spiritual belief system? This question aligns closely with the methods of dream interpretation. Is the prospective interpreter more psychologically or intellectually-oriented, more attuned toward earth-based spirituality, or a follower of Jesus? Their belief system determines the source of their interpretative information.

• Are you confidential (trustworthy) and how can I know I am safe with you?When you share a dream with an interpreter, you are sharing a sacred, intimate piece of your life. You want to make sure your interpreter will listen to you and not turn around and post your dream on their website or talk to anyone about what insight they have gleaned from you.

• What kind of 'warranty work' do you offer? Does the interpreter warmly invite you to ask questions or give feedback? Do they take time to answer your emails or explain what you don't understand? And what if over time, it becomes apparent they might have been mistaken...will they be willing to process the situation with you? Are they teachable and willing to learn along with you? Beware of someone who isn't willing to answer your questions or maintain some type of accountability or honesty with you. Discern if they are truly caring...for the best about YOU.

Personally, I believe that excellent dream interpreters exhibit integrity in every area of their life. They will also interpret dream-truths with a high level of skill, experience, and encouragement, with kind, not critical words, treating the dreamer with honor--because both dreamers and interpreters enter into holy ground when delving into dreams. Good interpreters take time to hear the dream, process it, pray through it, give it their very best attention--so that the dreamer can receive the dream message to the fullest degree.

A dream rightly interpreted can radically change our life by releasing spiritual understanding of our current circumstances, answers to dilemmas we may be experiencing, and directions to step more fully into our life's destiny or calling.

Pay attention to your dreams! And choose your "Voices" wisely.

Confronting Suicidal Harassment

Confronting Suicidal Harassment

Submitted by Merry Bruton on Mon, 12/13/2010 - 12:13pm

The Holiday season typically lights up the world with pretty colors, decorations, stories and songs, coaxing everyone to jingle their happy way through giving gifts, parties, and "Ho-ho-ho's".  Most folks eagerly anticipate Christmastime as an extended season of celebration and memory-making with family and friends.  

 

But what if you are dealing with loss of relationship, painful memories, financial disaster, extreme grief, sadness, or loneliness?    The pervasive atmosphere of 'cheer' can make that hole in the heart seem even deeper, darker, and emptier.  

 

In recent days, several of my friends have been brutally honest with me regarding suicidal thoughts they are entertaining or even dreaming about on a daily basis. Life is hard, old memories haunt, loss is great, pain overwhelms, and they feel powerless to fight the rising tide of hopelessness.  

 

I have been there in years past--dreading the holidays, surviving each day on edge, feeling overwhelming discouragement, longing to wake up on January 2, to find the holiday stuff all over and done with, but thankfully, I have pressed through to experience a more joyful outlook. 

 

Survival tips abound, through counseling, talking with a friend (hopefully one that is in a positive place), or via books or articles on the web.  This isn't your typical psychological self-help blog, though those are helpful. Here are a few additional, less-commonly-voiced spiritual insights regarding the suicidal thoughts that so many people often experience:

 

• Warfare: We are at odds with a very real enemy, one who desires to cut our destiny short. The aim of his 'ministry' is to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10). He can plant destructive thoughts. If we can discern how we are in the middle of a battle for our identity and worth, we can choose to align ourselves with a strong team and a Father that loves us and can help us fight. Unawareness of evil spiritual attacks leaves us vulnerable.  

• Destiny: If we are under attack, perhaps that means we are making a difference and we have a purpose and meaningful assignments to accomplish--and we are a threat to the enemy of our souls. Otherwise, why would he want to take us out?  

• Grief:  Everyone experiences difficulties, tragedies, sickness, pain, death of loved ones. No one is exempt. Know the stages of grief and realize that if you've experienced any kind loss this year, you may be in a 'normal' stage of grief...shock, disbelief, anger, depression, all of that. The most responsible thing you can do is to admit it, actively continue grieving, and know that you are not alone, and that there is nothing wrong with you if you feel these things.

• Sensitivity: If you are intuitively perceptive, you sense what pervades the spiritual atmosphere around you. Your suicidal thoughts may not even be your own, but something you are picking up from someone around you! Perhaps you are being shown what someone close to you is wrestling with--so you can give an encouraging word to help them walk through it.

• Hope:  Everyone needs Hope Alive. Find something hopeful and cling to it. Focus on whatever you can find that is positive. Tell someone what you are experiencing and ask for help. Ask what they see in you that is good, and try to affirm and celebrate--express gratitude for the Good Stuff.  

There is light at the end of the tunnel. Often things seem darkest just before the dawn of breakthrough. Creator fashioned you with purpose and a uniqueness that no one else can contribute to the universe but you.  A new year lies ahead--can't wait to see you in the light of a new year, clothed with the new strength and depth because of your perseverance and victory.  

 

Dream Interpretation Process: Interpret BEFORE You Apply the Dream

Are you a revelatory-gifted person?  If you dream a lot or have delved deeper into your intuitive or prophetic abilities (seeing, sensing, hearing, knowing information beyond the natural and tangible world), you realize that there is an art and growth process in learning what to do with what you ‘see’.

Generally speaking, the processing goes like this, in this order:  

• Revelation—the information that you receive from God (or other sources) that gives insight into a person or a situation.  It can come in the form of a vision or picture in your mind, a dream, something you hear with your ears, something you ‘know’ in your heart, a well-timed verse or song, a series of events that seem unusual—the list goes on.  

• Interpretation—deciphering what the revelation information means.  If symbols are involved, what do they signify?  How do they all fit together?  What is the message? 

• Application—taking the information and its interpretation and knowing what to do with it.  Who is it for?  You?  Someone else? What does it mean for them?  Where in their life could this make a difference?  Do you tell them?  If so, how do you give the message? What is the right timing?

You receive the revelation as a gift. Interpreting and applying both require time, study, discipline, prayer, and skill. And love and kindness!  Folks all too often take the metaphoric knowledge and run with it, skipping the effort of interpreting first—or to seeking wisdom in the application.  

Example:  You dream that your friend Anna is driving up a steep hill that is icy and slips into the next lane and gets hit head-on by an oncoming car and gets killed.  In haste and fear, you call Anna before she heads out to work, to inform her that she might get killed in a car wreck today. And she is afraid to go to work because of your dream and the way you handled it.   

But if you take time out to ponder and discern the symbols, you might instead realize that Anna (or even someone else she may represent) is on a ‘slippery slope’ at work or in one of her other activities, and needs your prayers so that she doesn’t lose control, venture off her assigned turf, and get ‘taken out’ by someone’s territorial temper.   

And, if you are to speak to her about it at all, you can find a way to warn her with encouragement instead of a tone of fear or threat. If you don’t understand the dream or the purpose of it, you risk blurting out nonsense that only confuses instead of bringing clarity.   

It is natural to want to skip the interpretation process and apply dreams literally--this is why it is more difficult to interpret our own dreams (or for folks close to us)—we know more life-circumstance-stuff and we immediately go to figuring out what revelation means, based on what is happening with us, instead of what Spirit is showing us.  

But taking time to interpret first, before applying is a MUST. Hearing Spirit about what the revelation means and why it is given is the plumb line of the process--the key ingredient to using our prophetic gift effectively. Thus, the Giver of the revelation becomes the focal point of our understanding, instead of allowing our circumstances to skew the meaning of the revelation. What is God's heart about the matter? 

So, if I dreamed that my 50-year-old friend gets pregnant and has a baby, should I hurry up and call her to tell her to start registering for baby clothes….??