Is It Your Intuition…or Is Your Brain Just Being LOUD?
Have you ever thought about someone right before they texted you?
Walked into a room and immediately thought, “Ohhh…something happened in here.”😂
Or had a random feeling about something and later wondered:
“Wait…how did I know that?”
That’s what we’re talking about tonight.
And before we go any further, I want to take some of the mystery out of the word intuition.
It doesn’t have to be creepy.
It doesn’t have to be spooky.
And you definitely don’t need to see spirits walking around your kitchen to experience it. 😂
I’m Laura, the psychic medium and intuitive astrologer behind Northern Light Lotus, and while intuition plays a huge role in the work I do, I believe we all experience it to some degree.
You may simply experience yours differently than I experience mine.
Tonight, we’re going to look at the different ways intuitive information can show up, what I’ve learned through my own mediumship, and one of the BIGGEST things I’ve learned about telling intuition apart from your own mind filling in the blanks.
So while you’re reading, don’t worry about asking:
“Am I psychic?”
Instead, get curious about something much more interesting:
“How does MY intuition talk to me?” 👀
✨ So…What Are the “Clairs”?
The different ways we receive intuitive information are often called the clairs.
Some people are naturally stronger in one than another, and they can absolutely overlap.
As you read these, see if any make you think:
“Wait…I do that.” 👀
👁️ Clairvoyance — Clear Seeing
When people hear clairvoyance, they sometimes picture physically seeing a spirit standing in the room.
And yes, I believe some people experience it that way. I’ve personally seen auras and have had things appear to physically materialize in front of me.
But most of my clairvoyance is MUCH quieter.
It happens inside my mind.
Think about the way you daydream.
A face might suddenly appear.
A place.
A color or symbol.
Sometimes even a quick little scene, almost like a video playing in your head.
Because it uses the same internal “screen” we use to imagine things, it’s incredibly easy to dismiss:
“Oh, I probably just made that up.”
For me, one of the things I’ve learned to notice is:
Did I intentionally create that image…or did it just show up?
That doesn’t mean every random image is intuitive information.
The real skill is learning your own patterns over time.
💡 Claircognizance — Clear Knowing
This one might already sound familiar:
“I don’t know how I knew…I just knew.”
No image.
No voice.
No logical explanation.
Maybe you meet someone and immediately think:
Something feels off.
You randomly feel like you should check on someone.
Or you’re considering an opportunity and something inside you quietly says:
Do it.
The information seems to arrive before you’ve had time to reason your way toward it.
And I’ve noticed something really important about this one:
For me, intuitive knowing is usually pretty calm.
It might say:
“Hmm…something feels weird. Pay attention.”
Anxiety tends to sound more like:
“BUT WHAT IF?! What if this happens? What if THAT happens? I need to figure this out RIGHT NOW!” 😵💫
Sometimes an intuitive feeling can absolutely trigger anxiety afterward—but that’s why I like going back to the beginning:
What did I know or feel BEFORE my brain started building a story around it?
Sometimes the original information was simply:
“Something feels off.”
You don’t necessarily need to know why yet.
You can notice it, stay curious and let the rest unfold.
❤️ Clairsentience — Clear Feeling
Then we have the feeling one.
And if you’ve ever walked into a room and immediately thought:
“Ohhhh…something happened in here.” 😂
You probably understand what I mean.
Someone says:
“I’m fine.”
Meanwhile, everything inside you is going:
“Mmm…no you’re not.” 👀
Clairsentience can show up as feeling someone’s mood, noticing the atmosphere of a place or experiencing something within your own body before you consciously understand what you’re picking up on.
This is also where I think things get REALLY interesting.
🧠 Is It Intuition…or Are You Really Good at Reading the Room?
If you’ve spent a lot of time around unpredictable people or walking on eggshells, you can become incredibly good at noticing tiny changes.
Tone of voice.
Facial expressions.
Body language.
The entire mood shifting when someone walks through the door.
Our brains and nervous systems can learn to notice those cues—even before we consciously realize we’ve noticed them.
From my spiritual perspective, I also wonder whether someone who is already naturally sensitive can become even more tuned into that sensitivity after relying on it again and again.
Almost like exercising a muscle.
Not:
“Difficult experiences made you psychic.”
More:
“Maybe the sensitivity was already there, and life taught you to pay VERY close attention to it.”
And sometimes I don’t think we need to force everything into one box.
Maybe your nervous system noticed something.
Maybe you’re anxious.
Maybe you’re intuitively picking up on something.
Maybe more than one thing can be happening at the same time.
That’s where knowing yourself and learning your own patterns becomes so important.
🌊 The Other Side of Being Sensitive
There’s something else I want to mention here because it’s been a big part of my own experience.
My spirit team has brought up the idea that when you’re extremely sensitive psychically, sometimes that sensitivity can extend into how deeply you experience things in general.
I can’t say that’s true for everyone.
But for me?
It makes A LOT of sense.
I get the beautiful side of being sensitive.
I love my mediumship.
I love connecting deeply with people.
I love those moments when information comes through and suddenly everything clicks.
But I also feel things deeply.
My emotions can hit hard.
My body can react strongly.
I can experience what I think of as empath drain, where I just feel completely depleted and need to retreat and recharge.
For me, sensitivity feels a little like having one dial that’s turned way up.
The same sensitivity that can feel amazing sometimes can also feel exhausting.
I don’t think that means psychic sensitivity causes anxiety, depression or anything else—and I definitely can’t say everyone experiences it the way I do.
It’s simply something my spirit team has brought to my attention, something I’ve recognized within myself, and something I’ve also heard echoed by other sensitive people I’ve talked with.
For me, I’ve learned that taking care of my sensitivity is just as important as learning how to use it. 🤍
👂 Clairaudience — Clear Hearing
Clairaudience is another really strong one for me.
And again, it doesn’t necessarily mean physically hearing a voice speaking in the room.
For me, it’s usually much more subtle and happens inside my mind.
A name.
A word.
A sentence.
A saying.
A song.
Sometimes it almost feels like a little line of dialogue or monologue suddenly starts playing in my head.
The biggest thing I notice?
I wasn’t intentionally trying to think of it. It just arrived.
And this is another place where the clairs can overlap.
I might see someone’s face and receive a name.
Get an image and a phrase.
See something followed immediately by a song.
We’re separating the clairs because they’re easier to explain that way, but in my experience they don’t always stay in their own neat little boxes.
🌙 Does Yours Get Louder Around Sleep?
Mine definitely does. 😂
I’ve noticed that my clairaudience can become MUCH louder right before I fall asleep or as I’m waking up.
Sometimes it can even feel more vivid or almost more physical than the way I normally experience it.
Interestingly, there are actual names for these in-between sleep states: hypnagogicwhen we’re falling asleep and hypnopompic when we’re waking up.
People can naturally experience vivid sounds, images and sensations during these states, so I don’t automatically assume every experience around sleep is psychic.
But from my own spiritual perspective, I’ve noticed my intuitive information can feel much less filtered during those moments.
Almost like my everyday thinking brain hasn’t fully grabbed the microphone yet. 😂
And honestly, that idea of the thinking brain grabbing the microphone is important…
because sometimes our own mind can be the BIGGEST thing getting in the way of recognizing what actually came through. ✨ And Some Can Be Even MORE Subtle…
There are a few other intuitive senses that don’t get talked about quite as much, and in my experience, these can be REALLY easy to overlook.
👃 Clairalience — Clear Smelling
For me, this isn’t necessarily physically smelling something in the room.
It can feel more like a scent memory suddenly dropping into my mind.
Think about someone’s perfume.
Fresh-cut grass.
Cigarette smoke.
A certain meal.
You know EXACTLY what that smell is like even though you aren’t actually smelling it through your nose.
It’s almost like your brain suddenly opened the scent file without asking you first. 😂
👅 Clairgustance — Clear Tasting
This is similar, but with taste.
A particular food, drink or flavor might suddenly come to mind, and you can almost remember exactly what it tastes like even though you aren’t eating anything.
Again, it’s not always some huge physical experience.
Sometimes it’s simply:
“Why did THAT taste just pop into my head?” 👀
✋ Clear Touch / Tactile Experiences
Then there are intuitive experiences that can feel more physical.
I’ve personally experienced things like:
A hand on my shoulder.
Someone rubbing my back.
The feeling of a hug.
Chills or goosebumps.
I’ve also had moments where I’ll suddenly experience an almost vertigo-like sensation that, from my spiritual perspective, I associate with feeling a spirit move through my energy.
And what’s interesting is that sometimes the physical feeling is immediately followed by that clear knowing:
“Oh. I know what that was.”
That’s a great example of how these senses can work together.
Of course, dizziness and vertigo can have completely ordinary physical causes too. I’m talking specifically about my own experiences and the patterns I’ve learned to recognize within my mediumship.
🖐️ What About Psychometry?
You may also hear people talk about psychometry, which generally refers to receiving intuitive impressions through touching or holding an object.
I personally don’t have experience working with psychometry, so I’m going to leave that one to the people who actually do. 😂
And if you’re reading all of this thinking:
“Wait…I thought intuition was just a gut feeling?”
That’s kind of my point.
It can be a gut feeling.
But it can also be an image, a word, a song, a physical sensation or simply knowing something without understanding exactly why.
Sometimes intuition is so subtle that we don’t recognize it as intuition at all.
🧠 One of the BIGGEST Things I’ve Learned: Don’t Reach for It
If there’s one thing I’ve learned from doing readings, it’s this:
Don’t chase the information.
For me, intuitive information tends to drop in.
The second I start searching for an answer, my thinking brain wants to help.
And our brains are REALLY good at filling in blanks. 😂
👀 Don’t Finish the Loop
Here’s a perfect example.
Let’s say I’m doing a reading and someone asks:
“What was their name?”
If a name immediately drops in, great.
But if nothing comes through and I start thinking:
Was it John?
Michael?
Something with a J?
That’s when I need to stop.
Because now:
I’m not receiving anymore. I’m searching.
My brain knows there’s an unanswered question and wants to finish the loop.
But sometimes the information simply isn’t there.
And that’s okay.
You don’t have to force an answer just because you want one.
✍️ Why You’ll Often Find Me Scribbling
This is actually why I love having something for my conscious mind to do during readings.
I’ll scribble in a journal.
Write down whatever drops in.
Shuffle cards.
Pull cards.
And yes, I absolutely use cards within my readings—but I’ve also found that simply having something to do with my hands can keep my thinking brain occupied enough that I’m not sitting there going:
“Okay intuition…DO SOMETHING!” 😂
The harder I reach for information, the louder my own thoughts can become.
So when something does come through, I try to write down exactly what I received.
Not what I think it means.
Not what would make the most sense.
Not the story my brain wants to build around it.
💙 Let’s Say You Get One Word: “Blue.”
That’s it.
But then your brain starts trying to be helpful:
Blue shirt?
Favorite color?
Blue car?
HE WAS A SMURF?!
Okay…probably not. 😂
But you get the idea.
Go back.
What did you actually receive?
Blue.
Leave it there.
Maybe more information comes.
Maybe later it makes perfect sense.
Maybe it doesn’t connect at all.
You don’t have to make it fit.
Sometimes the most responsible thing I can say during a reading is:
“I’m not getting that.”
I’d rather leave the space blank than accidentally fill it with something simply because my mind hates an unfinished sentence.
And that has become one of my biggest rules:
Receive first. Interpret second.
The more I’ve learned to do that, the more I’ve realized that developing intuition isn’t always about trying harder.
Sometimes it’s actually about learning when to get out of your own way.
👀 So…How Do You Know When to Trust the Feeling?
This is where knowing yourself becomes really important.
Because not every thought is intuition.
Not every uncomfortable feeling is a warning.
And not every “what if?” deserves your attention. 😂
For me, one of the biggest differences I’ve noticed is:
Intuition tends to know. Anxiety tends to question.
My intuition is usually pretty simple:
“Something feels off.”
“Pay attention to this.”
“I should do that.”
There’s a calmness underneath it—even when I don’t necessarily like what I’m feeling.
Anxiety is usually much louder.
But WHAT IF?
What if this means that?
What if something goes wrong?
What am I going to do?!
It wants me to solve the entire situation RIGHT NOW.
And sometimes the two can absolutely happen together.
An intuitive feeling might come first…
and then anxiety grabs it and starts writing the rest of the story. 😂
That’s when I find it helpful to ask:
“What did I actually feel or know BEFORE I started explaining it?”
Maybe the original information was simply:
“Something about this feels off.”
Okay.
You don’t have to immediately know why.
Notice it.
Stay curious.
Look at what’s actually happening.
Let more information come before deciding what the original feeling meant.
🤍 And Sometimes…We Talk Ourselves Out of What We Already Know
Have you ever had a feeling about something and immediately started arguing with yourself?
Maybe I’m overthinking it.
Maybe I’m wrong.
Maybe I should give it another chance.
Or even:
I could never do that.
That’s probably a stupid idea.
What if I fail?
Intuition isn’t only the little voice that says “don’t.”
Sometimes it says:
Go.
Apply.
Call them.
Try it.
Create something.
Take the opportunity.
And fear talks us out of those feelings too.
I’ve learned that sometimes we don’t ignore our intuition because we didn’t hear it.
Sometimes we heard it…and then started arguing with it.
✨ What Does YOUR Intuition Feel Like?
That’s what I really want you to take away from tonight.
You don’t need to worry about whether you’re “psychic enough.”
Instead, start getting curious about your own patterns.
Do you tend to see images?
Do words or songs pop into your mind?
Do you feel things strongly?
Or do you simply know?
What does anxiety feel like in your body?
And what does that quieter knowing feel like?
Have you ever known something, talked yourself out of it…and later thought:
“I KNEW IT.” 😂
You don’t have to figure everything out tonight.
Just start noticing.
Write things down.
Don’t reach for the answer.
Don’t finish the loop.
And give yourself time to learn your own intuitive language.
Because sometimes the quietest little feeling is the one worth paying attention to. 🤍
🌙 Before You Go…
If tonight’s blog had you thinking:
“Wait…I think I experience some of these.” 👀
Good.
Don’t overthink it yet.
Start noticing.
Pay attention to what drops in before your brain has time to explain it, question it or turn it into a 47-slide PowerPoint. 😂
And actually…I have a perfect way for you to practice tonight.
👀 Come Test Your First Instinct With Me
I’m posting a Pick-a-Message on my socials tonight specifically so you can play around with what we just talked about.
When you see the choices, don’t analyze them or stare at them trying to figure out which one has “your” message.
Notice which one catches your attention first.
You already know my rule:
First instinct is the one. 😉
Then read your message and see what resonates.
It’s a fun, low-pressure way to start noticing how your own intuition gets your attention.
💬 And I REALLY Want to Hear From You
After reading tonight’s blog, I’m curious:
How does intuition seem to show up for YOU?
Do you get gut feelings?
Random images?
Songs or words popping into your head?
Do you feel everything?
Or are you one of those people who just knows something and has absolutely no idea why? 😂
Come find today’s blog post on my socials and leave me a comment, or come chat with us over in Discord.
Tell me what you’ve experienced—even if you’re not completely sure what to make of it yet.
I would genuinely love to hear how this shows up differently for everyone. 🤍
🤍 Want to Go a Little Deeper?
If you’d like to experience what this looks like within an actual reading, you can also book a session with me through Northern Light Lotus.
I offer psychic mediumship and intuitive astrology sessions where we can explore what’s coming through for you, the questions you’ve been carrying and the patterns showing up in your life.
You can find my current session options and booking information right here on my website.
☕️ And Come Back Tomorrow…
Because we’re not done hanging out yet. 😂
I’ll be back tomorrow with something new for our cozy little corner of the internet.
Until then, try tonight’s Pick-a-Message, tell me what you’ve noticed about yourintuition, and maybe even start keeping a note of those little “Wait…how did I know that?” moments.
You might be surprised by what you notice once you actually start paying attention.
Take what resonates, trust yourself a little more, and I’ll see you tomorrow. 🤍
— Laura
Psychic Medium + Intuitive Astrologer
Northern Light Lotus
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