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….??

Spiritual Autoresponders

Once in a while we get a chance to escape our daily routine and take a vacation. If we plan to truly unplug, in order to be responsible, we program our email or voicemail with an autoresponder. So, when people attempt to contact us, they receive an immediate response telling them we do not plan to respond to their communication—anytime soon.

 

Or when someone signs up on a new website, they receive an automatic ‘welcome’ message with instructions or sales pitch—to convey that ‘personal touch’. 

 

When you receive an automated response, don’t you feel special?

 

Once, I tried to leave an encouraging comment on a friend's blog.  It failed.  I got an automatic email that called me a 'spambot' and said my comment was 'illegal'. So much for good intentions.

 

We live in a time of computerized voicemail systems, programmed customer service mazes, self-help online troubleshooting—all designed to herd us toward a solution with as little personal connection as possible.  I’m not bashing this wonderful technology…even though it can be infuriating at times, like when my needs don’t fit the pre-determined scripts. I admit I usually feel relief when a real voice of a real person answers and offers help.

 

Taking the idea of autoresponders to a more personal or spiritual level, I think we would benefit by an occasional ‘system wipe and restore” to re-examine how we interact with folks: 

 

o     If we want someone to help us, can we do a better job in honoring them, treating them as though their time is valuable, and asking for assistance nicely and humbly . . . instead of assuming they are like a vending machine where you push a button and expect immediate ‘output’? 

 

o     Can we learn to listen fully first to someone’s situation, to hear their heart, before we launch into ‘fix-it-advice’ mode? 

 

o     Do we allow ourselves to get in a rut in our relationships, where we may get lazy and fail to laugh, get creative, affirm, encourage, or say, 'thank you'?  When is the last time you responded differently to a friend and surprised their socks off?

 

o     When ugly, unwarranted, vicious words attack, are we skilled and alert enough to put up our ‘shields’ and let those curses deflect back to the attacker without allowing our peace to get even slightly disrupted--sort of like an auto-responding anti-magnetic force field?

 

o     When we ask for God’s help, are we willing to take time and effort to process—and wait—to see the bigger picture and to work on a deeper relationship as we go?  God is not a vending machine, either, and I don’t think he feels the pressure to always produce solutions for us--right NOW.

 

Thank you for reading today’s Destiny Dreamz blog.  For more information regarding dream interpretation or other spiritual topics, please go to www.DestinyDreamz.com or contact usfor further questions, but you may have to wait 5 – 7 business days for us to get back to you.

 

Pioneer Power

Pioneer Power

A funny thing often happens on the way to follow your life’s calling. You discover what you love to do, what you are gifted at, and once you fully commit to ‘go for it’--you invest heavily of all of your resources to get educated and forge forward. The way is difficult, but glorious--as the horizon comes into view! You turn to celebrate with your friends, only to find that no one has followed you.

Such seems to be the experience of the pioneer. Uncharted wilderness beckons you to venture out, traveling light, plowing and breaking rocky ground—with your FACE. You question and analyze your mission, your approach, even your own sanity, because nothing seems to go smoothly. No one can define success or failure, because the guidebook hasn’t been written yet. You get to brave all sorts of dangers, pitfalls, unknown elements, and dark places, because most folks are too fearful or uninterested to accompany you.

It takes supernatural strength to conquer new territory AND endure the disparaging attacks of the ‘normal’ status quo opinions ‘back home’.

People describe you as ‘weird’ or ‘misguided’ because they do not understand the pull on your spirit, the dreams that compel you, the Voice that no one else hears that encourages, “You can do this—you’re making an eternal difference for multitudes by your willingness and faith to stand alone as a trailblazer.” In the process, you come to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that it is God that leads and empowers you in the challenge.

Because of Destiny’s Direction, you go where no man has gone before, wielding revolutionary approaches, hoping to show others that ‘it’ can be done, even if you are not quite sure yourself how it will eventually work out. After you do the groundbreaking, you can summon the others to tell them what lies ahead—to assure them that the way is ‘viable’.

Keep up the good work! Your loving labor and extravagant cost is not wasted. If you’ve been called, you will also be equipped.

It takes time for anything innovative to get established and become standardized. Followers will catch on, and then go faster and farther than you, but only because you’ve prepared the way and paved the road for them to travel on.

In good character, you can delight in their progress and cheer them on as they push past you to re-work and rebuild your efforts into something even better.

But you may not ever realize the full results—because you’re a pioneer at heart, and you are probably already dreaming about...your NEXT assignment.

"Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking  Instead, fix your attention on God.  You'll be changed from the inside out."  Romans 12:2

"This Is Your Stuff"

“This Is Your Stuff”

We get wrapped up in our own little world much of the time, concentrating on essential daily details like work, emails, paying bills, posting on Facebook, trying to cover all the bases of our responsibilities. 

 

Or, what we THINK are our responsibilities. 

 

My ever-growing personal ‘to do’ list usually seems impossibly long—I categorize my tasks into areas such as work, home, errands, later, or NOW. I think that if I write my jobs down, then I can clear my mind and focus better.  Sometimes that works. Other times, I get stuck in my never-ending List and have difficulty getting free. I can easily work myself into Organization Paralyzation. 

 

But all too often, I think we forget to lift our eyes up a little higher than our home plate to visualize the bigger picture of life—and how we fit in—our Destiny Direction. Can we get so bogged down in the details that we forget to recalibrate or realign every now and then, to make sure we are heading in the right direction? 

 

Several weeks ago upon returning from our annual Burning Man ministry trip, I spent the first day home unpacking and doing laundry—dealing with the overwhelming ‘dig out’ we all experience after long, hard trips. 

 

The next day I planned to accomplish a bunch of stacked-up errands. First place I stopped, I looked the gal at the counter in the eye and asked her, “How’s your day going?”  She broke down and told me, “I’m having terrible nightmares that frighten me and I haven’t been sleeping, and there is no one to help me understand what is happening.” 

 

Imagine that! Since I’m a dream interpreter who helps people deal with this subject all the time, I offered to listen and help. It amazes me that strangers will open up and confide in me like they do, especially regarding their dreams. An hour later, we have addressed some of her fears, and I’m on my way to my next errand.

 

Next place I go, I meet eyes with a friend in her shop and ask how she is doing--something similar happens. More dreams to walk through regarding difficulties in her workplace. Lots of listening, wiping tears, encouragement, and hugs. 

 

I stop in to get my hair cut, and my hairdresser is sad and upset, feeling the weight and pain of her unemployed son who has a new baby and a mortgage. More listening and attempts to affirm--and my hair looks terrific. 

 

Five hours since I left home, with quite a few stops to make, I’m beginning to mutter to myself about my long list of things yet to accomplish. 

 

I stop in to get my car washed.  The 67-year-old cashier lady looks at me and says, “Your hair is just the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.”  I thank her, peer into her sweet face, and ask her how she’s doing, and she bursts into tears. She says, “I just got my hair back from chemo, and I feel so un-pretty.”  I listen to her cancer story, her anxieties, take her hands and offer to pray for her.  She is very grateful and I feel humbled and honored.

 

As I’m driving home, feeling a little weary from these encounters, I spoke to Spirit, “I had so many interruptions today and needed to get my stuff done. What’s up?”  

 

Spirit’s immediate answer:  “This is your stuff.” 

 

Oh yeah . . .

 

We each possess far more potential than we realize—may we watch diligently with a willingness to step into higher opportunities to touch and change the world—one ‘errand’ at a time.

Our Words—Are They Harming or Healing?

Our Words—Are They Harming or Healing?

I’ve been disconcerted this week at how quickly and easily folks seem to judge and criticize other people, then publicize their toxic views in any number of ways—through the news, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, personal blogs, social grapevines, and outright bullying. Or even just in traffic!

 

Perhaps in a world of instant technology, folks have forgotten about thinking the best of people and processing their reactions before status posting, firing off rash emails, or maligning someone’s character through damaging gossip. 

 

Our words carry power.  We can use them to bless or to curse.  When we denounce someone, we drag people down with us into our negative spiral.  Folks can feel our disparagement even by what we mutter behind their backs. In the last few days, I’ve wiped the tears of several friends who have experienced harsh criticism, and I have also been stung by people’s unkind words. 

 

I know I am not perfect, and I also know most of the verbal attacks are not about me—or you--but rather an indication of folks who are at their tipping point themselves and need to lash out. Most people do it without thinking. 

 

But, we need to think before we speak!

 

Some people are not ‘happy’ unless they are miserable.  Spewing their ills only serves to spread their bitterness.  Mouths speak from the overflow of what is in the heart.

 

With the difficulties in our world today, why would we think it is ok to censure anyone? Why not stop before we say something that hurts and check the negative words at the door and find something positive to say instead?  Seems all of humanity needs extra grace, kindness, and blessing about now.  

 

Life is hard for a lot of folks. You never know who is going through WHAT—we can’t assume. Finances are tight or exhausted.  People’s precious businesses are going under. Loved ones are hurting. Stress affects us all, and sometimes health issues arise, which costs more concern and money. Many of my deeply spiritual friends who are normally peace-seekers are experiencing overwhelming anxiety.  Let's help lighten each others' burdens.

 

An encouraging word goes a long way toward helping a person get through a difficult day.  It is never wrong to speak to each other with honor and respect. We get double blessed when we search to find a gem within someone and praise it.

 

“Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.” –Proverbs 12:18