Lovely friends,
One of the questions I hear all the time is, “How do I know if this is my intuition or if I’m just anxious and overthinking everything?”
I completely understand why people struggle with this because both can get your attention very quickly. Both can show up through your thoughts and your body, and sometimes intuition can tell you something that makes you nervous. After all these years of doing intuitive work, I don’t think the answer is as simple as saying intuition always feels peaceful and anxiety always feels uncomfortable.
For me, one of the biggest clues is paying attention to what came first.
Intuition is often very quick. I’ll have a feeling, a thought, a word, or just a knowing about something before I’ve had time to analyze it. Then my brain gets involved and suddenly I have fifteen different explanations for why I could be wrong, what could happen next, what somebody else might think, and whether I should trust what I felt in the first place.
That first little piece of information is the part I’ve learned to pay attention to.
Sometimes it’s incredibly simple. I meet somebody and something feels a little off. I look at an opportunity and immediately feel interested. Someone asks me a question and I know the answer before I’ve really thought about it. I can’t always explain where that information came from in the moment, but after working with my intuition for so many years, I recognize the feeling.
Anxiety tends to have a lot more to say.
My mind starts running ahead and trying to figure out every possible outcome. I might replay a conversation, imagine what somebody is thinking, worry about something that hasn’t happened, or try to find enough information to guarantee that I’m making the right choice. The longer I stay in that loop, the harder it becomes to hear the original feeling underneath all of it.
This is why I tell people that learning intuition is really about learning yourself.
I can tell you what intuition feels like for me, but you need to learn how it communicates with you. Some people feel things strongly in their body. Some get an immediate thought or word. Some see images. Some simply know something and have absolutely no idea why they know it.
Your intuition also gets easier to recognize with experience. You start looking back and realizing, “Oh, I had that feeling before this happened,” or, “I knew I should have listened to myself there.” Eventually you begin recognizing your own patterns, and that is where self-trust starts getting stronger.
One thing I do when I’m really stuck is my imaginary coin flip.
I don’t even need an actual coin. I imagine that one choice is heads and the other is tails, and then I imagine tossing the coin into the air. Before it lands, I notice which side I’m hoping comes up.
That little moment before the answer can be very revealing because I haven’t given myself enough time to build a whole argument yet. Something inside me usually already has a preference.
Of course, that doesn’t mean I automatically do whatever my imaginary coin tells me to do. I still use common sense. I look at the facts, consider the consequences, and make an actual decision. Intuition is part of how I make decisions. I don’t believe we have to throw logic out the window to be spiritual.
I actually think intuition and common sense work very well together.
There is another piece of this that I think is really important, and that is the nervous system. Sometimes your intuition tells you something very clearly and your body reacts because acting on that information feels scary. Maybe you know you need to have a difficult conversation, set a boundary, leave something behind, apply for something new, or finally put yourself out there.
You can know something is right for you and still be nervous about doing it.
That is why I’m careful about telling people that intuition always feels calm. The intuitive information itself may be very simple and clear, while everything that information brings up inside you can be complicated. You might receive a very clear “I need to do this” and immediately feel your stomach tighten because you know doing it will require courage.
For me, the question becomes, “What did I know before I got scared?”
That one has helped me a lot.
This is also where I like working with Archangel Raziel. I associate Raziel with deeper spiritual understanding, intuition, wisdom, and seeing connections that we may have missed. When my thoughts feel tangled, I can simply ask, “Raziel, help me see this clearly,” and then give myself a little quiet instead of continuing to mentally wrestle with the problem.
I don’t expect an angel to make my decisions for me. I’ve talked about this before because it has become a really important part of my relationship with Spirit. I want guidance and support, but I also want to trust the intuition and judgment I’ve spent years developing.
Sometimes the most useful thing I can do is stop asking the same question.
If I’ve pulled it apart twenty different ways, asked Spirit repeatedly, looked for signs, talked to everybody I trust, and I’m still circling around the same answer, there’s a good chance I already know what I want to do. At that point, another sign may not be what I need. I may need to trust myself enough to make a choice.
When I genuinely can’t tell what is intuition and what is anxiety, I try to settle my body before deciding anything that doesn’t need an immediate answer. I’ll breathe, meditate, do Reiki, go do something else for a while, or sleep on it. Once my nervous system settles down, I can usually look at the situation again without quite so much noise around it.
You can try this yourself. Give yourself a quiet minute, take a few slower breaths, and let your body settle before returning to whatever you’re trying to figure out. Instead of demanding an answer, notice what you knew at the very beginning and what thoughts were added afterward.
You can also ask Spirit or Raziel for clarity and then leave the question alone for a little while. Go live your life. Take a shower, walk the dog, make dinner, drive somewhere, or do something completely unrelated. I cannot tell you how many times clarity has shown up for me when I finally stopped trying so hard to get it.
And please remember that anxiety itself isn’t something you need to be angry at. Your mind and body are trying to protect you, and sometimes they become very enthusiastic about the job. You can acknowledge the fear without automatically treating every fearful thought as intuitive guidance.
The more you practice, the more you begin recognizing the difference between your own fear, somebody else’s energy, your thoughts, and that quieter inner knowing you’ve had all along. It takes time because you’re building a relationship with yourself, and relationships become stronger through experience.
I’ve been doing intuitive work for decades, and I still stop and check myself sometimes. I still ask whether something is my intuition, my own opinion, fear, wishful thinking, or something I picked up from somebody else. I actually think asking those questions is part of being responsible with intuition.
You don’t have to get every intuitive message right to trust yourself.
Pay attention. Practice. Notice your patterns. Look back at what you felt before you knew the outcome. Work with Spirit, ask Raziel for clarity when you need it, and give yourself enough quiet to hear your own voice underneath all the noise.
Your intuition becomes much easier to recognize when you stop expecting it to shout.
Much love,
Lisa 💜
