How Do I Know If It’s Spirit or My Imagination?
One of the most common questions people ask when they begin noticing intuitive information is,
“How do I know if that was Spirit or if I just made it up?”
The interesting part is that you are probably receiving information more often than you realize.
It may come through as a thought. A feeling. A song. A dream. A sudden knowing. Maybe three different people tell you essentially the same thing within a short period of time and you start wondering, “Is that really a coincidence?”
The problem is that the moment we recognize something as possible guidance, our human mind gets involved.
“Did I just think that?”
“Am I making this up?”
That second-guessing is normal. We are humans. We want to make the right choices and we don’t want to screw things up.
But I think we sometimes make the question of Spirit versus imagination much more complicated than it needs to be.
Does It Really Matter If It Was Spirit or You?
This may sound like a strange answer coming from someone who has spent years working as a Medium, but sometimes my response is:
Does it matter?
We often think of Spirit as being somewhere completely separate from us, sending messages down and hoping we receive them correctly.
I don’t see it that way.
We are connected to our Spirit team. They are connected to us. There is a relationship there. We are working together as we navigate this human life.
Because of that, guidance may not arrive with a booming voice announcing, “This message is from Spirit.”
It may arrive through a thought that feels like your own thought.
You may ask a question and suddenly know the answer.
You may be driving and hear the exact song you need to hear.
Someone may say something that answers a question you have been carrying.
You may wake up with a thought that feels different than the thoughts you normally have.
Instead of becoming obsessed with identifying the exact source of every impression, I encourage people to become more aware of the quality of the information.
Spirit Guidance Usually Feels Different From Your Inner Critic
One of the easiest places to begin is by listening to how you normally speak to yourself.
For many people, that voice is not particularly nice.
“You stupid idiot. Why did you do that?”
“You always mess things up.
There is blame. Judgment. Fear. Criticism.
Spirit guidance does not typically come through that way.
The information may challenge you. It may ask you to do something uncomfortable. It may even point you toward something you have been avoiding.
But the energy behind it is different.
Spirit guidance comes from a place of love and from what I would describe as your best and highest good.
It may sound like:
Stop.
Wait.
Pay attention.
Take the next step.
That doesn’t mean every loving thought automatically came from Spirit. It means the tone of the information can help you begin distinguishing guidance from the critical voice you have been listening to for years.
Spirit Messages Are Usually Simpler Than We Make Them
One of the biggest mistakes I see people make when they begin developing spiritually is putting meaning on everything.
Suddenly every feather means something.
Every number means something.
Every song means something.
Every person who crosses their path must have been sent by Spirit.
Before long, they have built an enormous story around what may have been a very simple impression.
Spirit does not need to make everything complicated.
Some of the most profound guidance can also be incredibly simple.
“Stop.”
“Go.”
“Not yet.”
“Pay attention.”
The human side of us tends to take that first impression and begin adding layers to it.
We want to explain it. Analyze it. Make it bigger. Give it a story.
Sometimes the practice is simply learning to receive the impression and leave it alone for a moment.
Learn How Spirit Communicates With You
Not everyone receives intuitive information in the same way.
That is why learning your own clairs can be so helpful.
You may see information through clairvoyance.
You may hear a word, phrase, song, or name through clairaudience.
You may physically or emotionally feel information through clairsentience.
Or, like me, you may primarily experience Claircognizance, the clear knowing of something without being able to explain how you know it.
Claircognizance has always been very natural for me. Most of the time, when information comes through, I simply know.
There isn’t always a long process of wondering whether I received it correctly. The knowing is just there.
Someone who is naturally clairsentient may have a very different experience. They need to learn what a “yes” feels like in their body.
For one person it may be goosebumps. Another may feel something in their stomach. Someone else may notice a feeling of expansion or peace.
Your job is not to receive Spirit the way someone else does. Your job is to learn how Spirit communicates with you, what receiving feels like for you, and how to recognize those impressions when they arrive.
Pay Attention to What Happens When You Aren’t Trying
Another clue can be when information arrives.
Sometimes guidance comes when you are actively asking for help.
But sometimes it appears when the issue was nowhere near your conscious thoughts.
You may be exercising, gardening, cooking, showering, driving, meditating, or doing something that has your attention focused elsewhere.
For me, painting can do this.
I’m not talking about rolling paint onto a wall without much thought. I’m talking about being up on a ladder painting trim and concentrating completely on getting that line straight without putting paint everywhere.
My conscious mind is focused.
And because of that, my inner thoughts become quiet.
That is often when inspiration or information comes through.
Meditation can create the same type of space. So can journaling. So can many repetitive or focused activities that allow the constant analytical chatter to settle down.
Sometimes we hear guidance more clearly when we stop trying so hard to hear it.
Look for Validation Without Becoming Obsessed With Signs
When people first begin recognizing intuitive information, they often want proof.
That makes sense.
One form of validation I encourage people to notice is repetition.
I sometimes refer to the power of three.
Perhaps you hear essentially the same message from three different people.
You see the same theme appearing in completely different situations.
An idea keeps resurfacing even though you have tried to dismiss it.
The circumstances may be different, but the underlying message is the same.
That repetition can be worth paying attention to.
However, there is a difference between noticing repetition and searching desperately for confirmation.
If you decide Spirit told you something and then spend the next week making every event prove your theory, you are no longer simply receiving information.
You are building the answer you want.
Keep it simple.
Notice what comes and how it feels, or whether it repeats.
Then allow the information some room to breathe.
Be Careful Not to Put Your Human Perspective on Spirit’s Guidance
We usually ask for guidance because we are stuck.
But then we often expect Spirit to give us the exact answer our human mind already wants.
That doesn’t make much sense.
If I am asking for another perspective, I have to be willing to receive another perspective.
Sometimes the guidance may challenge the beliefs that created the problem in the first place.
It may ask you to see the situation through a different lens.
That is the value of guidance.
You aren’t asking Spirit to simply confirm everything you already believe.
You are asking for information that may help you see something you cannot currently see.
Stop Asking the Same Question Over and Over
I see this often with oracle cards and other intuitive tools.
Someone asks a question.
They get an answer.
They don’t like the answer.
So they ask again.
Then they ask with slightly different wording.
Then they pull another card.
Then another one.
Eventually, the answers don’t even seem connected to the original question anymore.
I call this “asked and answered.”
It isn’t that Spirit is sitting somewhere thinking, “I’m tired of this question.”
The information came.
Now the human side needs to decide what to do with it.
Repeatedly asking because you want a different answer is not the same thing as asking for clarification.
Spirit Is Not Standing There Judging You
Another human quality we sometimes put onto Spirit is judgment.
People imagine their Guides or loved ones in Spirit standing there with their arms crossed and tapping their foot because we didn’t follow the advice.
That is not how I experience Spirit.
They are not angry with you because you didn’t take the guidance.
They aren’t disappointed because you got scared.
They may simply find another way to get your attention.
Spirit guidance is not about punishment.
It is about perspective, support, and possibility.
Even a Medium May Need Time to Understand a Message
One of the more unusual experiences in my own spiritual journey began with a phone call from Tibet.
At the time, I was already doing spiritual work. My work was heavily connected to the Angelic Realm, and I was beginning to do more mediumship.
Then I received a phone call from a healer who told me that Spirit had given him my phone number.
According to him, he had written the number on a leaf with a rock.
You can imagine my reaction.
Who is screwing with me?
Some of what he told me resonated deeply. Some of the conversation also felt very human and carried his own bias.
That was important for me to recognize.
Spirit information was being delivered through a human being, and I still needed discernment.
The healer’s name was Ganesh, which has always made me laugh because I love working with Ganesh, the Hindu deity often associated with removing obstacles.
I sometimes joke that Ganesh had to manifest into human form and call me because I wasn’t paying attention.
At that point in my life, I was extremely busy. I had a full-time job and was doing spiritual work in addition to it. I wasn’t giving myself much quiet space.
And the message being delivered was big.
There was more work for me to do.
My life needed to expand.
But I didn’t hang up the phone, quit my job, end my relationship, sign a lease on a building and completely change my life the next morning.
I froze.
Then I sat with it.
I separated the parts that felt like human bias from the parts that felt true.
I allowed myself to process what the experience meant.
Eventually, I began taking steps.
It was about six months before I signed a lease and moved more fully into the next phase of my work.
That experience taught me something important:
Receiving guidance does not mean you must immediately act on it.
Guidance Is Guidance, Not a Command
I think this is one of the most important things to understand.
Guidance is not a definite.
It is guidance.
You asked for another perspective, a possible direction, or help with something you are navigating.
Then you still have free will.
I have given readings where someone received incredibly clear information.
They leave excited.
I see them again years later and discover they did nothing with it.
Sometimes they will even say, “You told me that last time.”
And my response is usually something along the lines of, “Well, you didn’t do anything with it, did you?”
Usually they didn’t.
They were afraid.
The guidance felt too big.
Following it meant changing something they were not yet ready to change.
And that is okay.
Receiving guidance and being ready to act on guidance are not the same thing.
You can sit with it.
You can take one step.
You can create a plan.
You can allow yourself time to grow into the information.
What Should You Do When You’re Still Not Sure?
If something comes through and your immediate response is, “Was that Spirit or was that me?” don’t start arguing with yourself.
Pause.
Take a breath.
Let the noise settle.
Then ask:
“Give me more information.”
Or:
“Help make this clearer for me.”
And then stop trying to force an answer.
You can also write down what happened.
Journal:
- What was I doing when the information came?
- What did I see, hear, feel, or know?
- What was the original impression before I started analyzing it?
- How did it feel in my body?
- Did it feel loving and helpful or fearful and judgmental?
- Has this message shown up before?
- Is there a small step I could take without forcing a major decision?
Writing it down also gives you something to come back to later.
That is important because hindsight can provide validation.
Something that seems random today may make perfect sense three weeks from now.
Build Trust Instead of Demanding Proof
Learning to communicate with Spirit is not about reaching a point where you never question anything again.
Your human side is probably always going to have moments of doubt.
That is part of being human.
The goal is to become more aware of how guidance comes through for you.
You learn the feeling of it and how you receive it.
You learn your signs and symbols and notice repetition without turning everything into a sign.
You learn when your mind has taken a simple impression and created an entire story around it.
And you begin trusting yourself enough to pause and listen before automatically dismissing what came through.
You don’t need to prove that every thought came from Spirit.
You need to learn how guidance feels to you.
Keep it simple.
Pay attention.
Ask for more information when you need it.
And remember that receiving guidance doesn’t mean you have to turn your entire life upside down tomorrow.
Sometimes Spirit gives you the direction.
Your human job is simply to decide what the next step will be.