How to Tell the Difference Between Intuition and Anxiety

If you’ve ever asked yourself…

“Is this actually my intuition, or am I just completely overthinking?”

…YOU’RE NOT ALONE!!

It’s one of the most common questions I hear from my students who are developing their psychic and mediumship abilities.

You get a feeling about someone, you all of a sudden you don’t want to go somewhere. …but then your mind jumps in.

The challenge is that your intuition and your anxiety can feel REALLY friggin’ similar on the surface because they both get your attention. But they actually come from completely different places…and once you learn the difference, you’ll start trusting yourself sooooooo much more.

The biggest difference between intuition and anxiety

Is that your intuition is information that you receive…whereas anxiety is protection.

Your intuition is giving you data about something.

Anxiety, on the other hand, is your nervous system trying to keep you safe based on your past experiences, and fears.

One comes from your inner knowing, and the other comes from perceived danger.

What intuition feels like

For the most part, your intuition is going to feel surprisingly quiet!!!

It just pops in WAY before you’ve had time to think.

It can feel like:

• Some kind of knowing that just happens out of the blue.
• A kind of calm feeling that you should (or shouldn’t) do something.
• A great idea that just pops into your mind.
• A little nudge that keeps coming back to you.
• A clear inner voice. Like it sounds JUST LIKE YOU… but with this cool sense of certainty.
• A physical sensation or emotion that you feel in your body.
• An image or symbol that just flashes past in your mind.

One thing I notice again and again with my students is that your intuition isn't going to start arguing with you.

It doesn’t need to.

It just presents the information and, well….waits.

Even if the message that comes through is uncomfortable, there’s still usually a strange sense of certainty underneath it all.

What anxiety feels like

Then on the other hand… anxiety usually has a VERY different energy.

Instead of giving you one clear piece of information, it creates endless possibilities swirling around your head!!.

The…

• “But what if…”
• “Maybe this means…”
• “What if they think…”
• “What if something goes wrong?”

It pulls you into huge loops…and instead of one clear message, you get friggin 'hundreds.

Anxiety tends to make you feel more confused instead of certain about anything… because it’s underpinned with fear.

A simple way to tell the difference

Ok so the next time that you find yourself in a scenario where you genuinely don’t know if that bit of information that just came through is your actual intuition … or your anxiety speaking …

I want you to go and ask yourself:

If it feels like neutral information OR  does it feel like a problem you need to solve?

Because what you will find with your intuition, is that it’s just showing you something… whereas your anxiety has this undertone of urgency and uncertainty and wants you to fix something ASAP.

Notice what happens in your body

Now … one easy way that is going to help you to tell them apart… is by LISTENING TO YOUR BODY!!

Your body won’t lie to you… so that’s why recognising the subtle shifts in your energy is key…

Because your Intuition is probably going to feel like it’s:

• Calm.
• Grounded.
• Neutral.
• Quiet.
• Certain.
• Simple.

Whereas if it’s your anxiety… that can feel like:

• You have a tight chest or feel like your breathing is shallow.
• Racing thoughts.
• Restlessness.
• Urgency.
• Tension.
• Feeling overwhelmed.

Now, why it can be really confusing when you are being told something by your intuition … is because the guidance you get  isn’t always going to be comfortable or what you want to hear..

Sometimes your intuition will ask you to do something that is challenging … like leaving your relationship, changing your career or making a really hard decision… that let’s be honest, you don’t want to make.

But even then, underneath the discomfort of what you're being asked to do… is usually a deeper sense of knowing.

Why so many intuitive people confuse the two

Look, it’s so incredibly common for the most intuitive people to confuse these two because you have a sensitive nervous system..

Because of that, you can mistake a feeling of emotional activation for genuine intuitive guidance…

or even worse… completely dismiss your intuition because you’re worried that it’s just your anxiety.

And I get it… that creates such a frustrating cycle!!!!

Because you're actually hearing your intuition… but then you go and doubt it… until eventually you’ve talked yourself out of the original message.

Ironically, the first impression you get is usually ALWAYS the intuitive one.

Everything else that comes afterwards  is your analytical mind trying to make sense of it!!

One exercise to help you tell the difference

Ok, so the next time you feel like your intuition is speaking to you, I want you to write down the very first thing you noticed.

Just the first impression.

Then walk away, and come back to it a few hours later…or even the next day.. And ask yourself if that message has changed or if it is still the same?

You will quickly start to notice that if it was your intuition then it tends to stay remarkably consistent.

But if it’s anxiety on the other hand… then that sneaky little creature likes to create a new story every time you revisit it.

Can anxiety block your intuition?

HMM… WELL NOT EXACTLY!! 

It just becomes harder to hear because your anxiety is usually a hell of a lot louder.

Just imagine trying to listen to someone whisper something important to you, whilst a crazy  alarm is going off!!!

You obviously won’t be able to hear what someone is telling you because the alarm is drowning it out.

This is why learning to regulate your nervous system can improve your intuitive abilities so much.

Because anxiety is a dysregulated nervous system i.e. the alarm!!

What I’ve noticed after reading thousands of people

After years of giving psychic readings and mentoring developing psychic mediums and healers, I’ve noticed a common thread with everyone!!

And that is that the way you expect to hear your intuition usually isn’t the way it;s already speaking to you.

If you're expecting flashing lights, and booming voices… you will be disappointed.

Because in reality, your intuition is so much more subtle and comes in ways that seem so natural or too much like your own voice for you to even notice.

It’s a random quiet thought, or a warm feeling in your gut, a little nudge in a direction that came out of nowhere…

So….the more that you act on those subtle moments, the stronger your trust muscle and therefore your ability to notice your intuition gets!

Final thoughts

Learning to tell the difference between intuition and anxiety is honestly just about getting super familiar with your own inner language.

The more you notice how your intuition naturally communicates with you, the easier it is to recognise it.

If you’d like to strengthen your intuition and learn how to distinguish genuine psychic information from fear, imagination and overthinking, explore my trainings and mentoring programs designed to help you turn your intuitive gifts into practical skills.