When you ask Spirit for guidance, how do you know your spirit guides are present? How do you know they’re listening—or communicating with you?
Someone recently asked me this question:
“When you are asking for guidance from Spirit, is there some way to know when they are present and listening?”
It’s a wonderful question because one of the biggest obstacles to receiving spiritual guidance may be our expectations about how that guidance is supposed to appear.
We may expect to see something. Hear something. Feel someone standing beside us. We may have an idea of where our guides should appear or what they should say.
But those expectations can actually get in the way.
Your Spirit Guides May Not Communicate the Way You Expect
Think about your own expectations.
How do you expect your guides to appear?
Where do you expect them to be?
What do you expect them to say?
How do you expect them to answer you?
The stronger our expectations are, the more likely we are to miss the information we’re receiving.
When I work with guides, I work only with the divine and sacred. These guides are always present, but they operate at a very high vibration. We shouldn’t expect them to feel like another human being walking into the room.
Their presence can be much more subtle.
Instead of trying hard to see or hear your guides, begin noticing the different ways information comes to you.
This is where understanding the different “clairs” can be helpful.
Clairvoyance: Receiving Through Seeing
Clairvoyance is usually described as “seeing.”
But that doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll see a spirit guide standing in front of you as clearly as you would see another person.
You may simply notice a glow. The room may seem a little lighter. An image might appear in your mind.
When we expect clairvoyance to mean literally seeing a human-looking figure with our physical eyes, we can miss the subtler ways visual information is coming through.
Relax about trying so hard to see.
Notice instead.
Clairaudience: Receiving Words and Messages
Clairaudience is commonly described as “hearing,” but this is another area where expectations can get in the way.
You don’t necessarily hear a voice with your physical ears.
Very often, the information simply pops into your mind as words.
That’s why I frequently tell my students:
Always take the pop
That instant phrase or group of words that suddenly appears in your mind may be the information you’re receiving.
Sometimes clairaudient messages can also come through music.
You might suddenly have a portion of a song repeating in your mind. Instead of immediately focusing on the song title, pay attention to the particular lyrics that keep repeating.
Those words may contain the message.
And don’t expect complete sentences. Often, it’s simply a phrase or a few words.
Clairsentience: Receiving Through Feeling
Clairsentience involves feeling or sensing.
You might have a sense that someone is in the room with you. You may sense that a presence is in a particular part of the room, even though you don’t physically see anyone.
I’ve occasionally experienced something much more tangible, such as feeling a gentle hand touch my shoulder. But experiences that physical are rare.
More commonly, clairsentience is simply a sense of presence.
It can happen inside your home, outdoors, at the grocery store or almost anywhere.
The important thing is to notice the feeling without immediately dismissing it because it wasn’t dramatic.
Clairgustance: Receiving Through Taste
Intuitive information can even come through taste.
This sometimes happens when I’m doing medical intuition.
For example, I may suddenly experience a salty taste while working with someone. At other times, I might notice an unusually sweet or sticky sensation in my mouth.
These sensations can provide information that relates to what is happening physically with the person I’m working with.
The information is being received through the sense of taste.
Claircognizance: The Sense of Just Knowing
Claircognizance is that sudden sense of knowing something without knowing how you know it.
Perhaps you suddenly know that someone you care about is struggling.
Nobody told you.
You haven’t received a phone call or message.
You simply know.
That wave of knowing is important.
The more you learn to trust and honor it, the clearer this form of intuitive information can become.
Receiving Spiritual Messages Through Smell
Smell can also carry intuitive information.
For example, someone who loved flowers during their lifetime might be associated with the sudden scent of flowers.
I know someone whose grandfather smoked a pipe. When she smelled the particular tobacco her grandfather used, she recognized it as a sign associated with his presence.
These experiences can be very real, even though nothing physical is producing the scent.
Don’t Try So Hard to Hear Your Spirit Guides
There is a common thread running through all these ways of receiving spiritual guidance:
Don’t try so hard
Spirit isn’t physical in the way we are physical. If you’re expecting spiritual communication to look, sound or feel exactly like something in the physical world, you may overlook what you’re actually receiving.
You may not see someone standing in front of you.
You may not hear a voice speaking into your ear.
Instead, you might notice a glow.
A few words may suddenly pop into your mind.
A lyric might repeat itself.
You may have an unexpected feeling.
Or you may simply know.
These experiences can be subtle.
Trust That Your Guides Are There
So, how do you know when your spirit guides are present and listening?
If you are asking for guidance, begin by trusting that your guides are there.
Then release your expectations about exactly how they need to respond.
Pay attention to what comes naturally rather than trying to force an experience.
Notice the image.
Take the pop.
Pay attention to the feeling.
Honor the knowing.
The more you stop trying to dictate how spiritual guidance should arrive, the more open you may become to recognizing the ways it is already reaching you.
What is blocking your intuition?
