Perhaps one of the most common questions that I am asked about psychic development is: "How do I tell the difference between true psychic impressions and insights and my own thoughts and hopeful wishes?"

This question may be the key to psychic development in a nutshell. Okay, there is a little more to it than this. However, being able to discern when you are intuiting and when you are receiving information through your thinking, finite self is a giant step in the right direction. Most psychic information comes through the same channels as non-psychic information. We intuit through our thoughts or mental intuition; through our emotions or emotional intuition; through our body or physical intuition; and through our dreams, imagination, and images or spiritual intuition.

Although it often goes by unnoticed, we tend to receive both psychic and self-generated information throughout the day. The differences between the two are often subtle and barely discernible. However, with a little practice you will begin to better identify, recognize, and be more receptive to psychic energy information.

Thought energy is the primary psychic current of mental intuition. Two of the most common psychic abilities of mental intuition are claircognizance and clairaudience. Simply knowing or becoming aware of something, without knowing how you know it, is called claircogniaznce. Clairaudience is the ability to receive energy information through an inner voice or through inner hearing and it often works in tandem with claircognizance.

Telltale Signs of Psychic Information
Although it may be subtle and at times hard to discern, there is a difference between the quality and tone of psychic thought and of self-generated thoughts. Here are a few telltale signs to help you to better identify which is which.

Non-psychic, self-generated thoughts originate in the ego and thinking mind and are driven primarily through desires, emotions, expectations, memories, our knowledge base, biases, past experiences, and beliefs. They are often linear in that one thought leads to another and another, and so one. They often arouse emotions and reinforce what we already know and believe or expect to be true. Rarely does a self-generated thought surprise us with its originality or new information.

Psychic thoughts are free of ego influences. For this reason they may seem flat, unemotional, and impersonal. Because psychic thoughts do not arouse our emotions and speak to our desires and expectations, they rarely get our attention. However, there is usually a calm awareness that accompanies them that can feel reassuring. Unlike self-generated thoughts that tend to flow into our awareness one after another and may seem scattered and unfocused, psychic thoughts are repetitive, persistent, even-toned, and unalarming. Even in situations where you might have an emotional reaction, they tend to be understated, simple, and matter of fact.

For instance, imagine one morning as you are getting ready for work the thought comes to you to call an old friend that you haven't seen in a little while. You don't pay it too much attention. However, as you sit behind your desk at work a few hours later, the thought to call this same friend again surfaces. You wonder what she is up to and decide to give her a call on the weekend. Later that evening at home the thought to call her surfaces again. This time you pick up the phone and make the call. She immediately answers and tells you that she had been thinking of you. As you catch up with one another, she mentions that there is an opening in the company where she works that you might be interested in. The position is aligned with your career goals and she remembers in the past you expressing interest in moving to her area. Later that evening you look up the job description and realize that this sounds like your dream job. Hopeful and excited you apply.

Looking back you realize that the message to call your friend fit the criteria of a psychic thought. It was persistent and matter of fact and it didn't offer any explanation as it why to call her or fill you with expectations. It was a simple repetitive statement that would've been easy to disregard and ignore.

Psychic Thought Exercise
When you become more aware and mindful of your thoughts as they spontaneously surface, your ability to quickly recognize psychic information as it flows in will increase. Confidence in your innate abilities will grow and you will be empowered to further develop and use your psychic skills.

Here is a simple exercise that will help you to better discern psychic thoughts from self-generated thoughts and receive insight and guidance into a question or concern.

To begin, think of a question or area in your life that you would like to receive energy information about. Write it down. Then write down whatever hopes, concerns, fears, potential outcomes, expectations, and anything else that comes to mind in relation to your question.

You may want to skip this step, but please don't. Success depends on clearing out as much of the self-generated and ego-based feedback and responses to your concern as possible. Writing this down gets it out of your way and allows you to be more intuitively clear and receptive. Our beliefs, desires, expectations, and other thoughts and feelings act as intuitive static. When we get our personal biases out of our head and down on paper or computer, it has less power to influence intuitive receptivity and cause confusion.

Once you feel more neutral and ready to intuit, get comfortable and begin to breathe relaxing breaths. Inhale deeply, then exhale any stress or tension. Inwardly say your question or concern as you continue to breathe. You may want to repeat your question as you continue to relax. Pay attention to any thoughts that surface. Remember, psychic thoughts are simple, concise statements. They do not arouse emotions or give explanations and details. Repetitive and matter of fact, they often seem insignificant.

When you feel that you have received a psychic thought, write it down and go back to the breath and become receptive.

Be aware that once we receive a psychic thought our tendency is to try to make sense of it and understand its meaning through the finite thinking mind. Resist the temptation to overthink and engage your rational thought process.

Letting go of psychic thoughts as they surface may seem counter to the point of receiving helpful psychic information. We are, after all, developing this ability to understand and use the insights and guidance we receive. However, correctly identifying a psychic thought, but mistakenly assuming we know what it means, is a common error. It is better to slow down the process and continue to let it unfold while still in an intuitive receptive state.

Keep writing down your psychic thoughts as they surface, then go back to focusing on the breath and become receptive. Once you feel as if you have intuitively received all that you can, read over the psychic thoughts that you wrote down. Pay attention to any intuitive insights or "a-ha" realizations or awareness that surfaces as you contemplate what you received. Give the psychic thoughts space and time to evolve and reveal more insights and information.

How to Work with Psychic Thoughts
Unlike an intuited image or symbol, some psychic thoughts are straight to the point and don't need further interpretation. However, this does not necessarily mean that you understand its significance. In the example of the psychic thought to call your friend, you may have been able to identity this as a psychic thought, but still didn't know why it was important to call her.

At times psychic thoughts are not straight-forward and may continue to baffle you. This doesn't mean that your psychic skills are lacking. When intuitive guidance comes from a higher divine source, the mental thinking part of us cannot always grasp and make sense of it. If this happens, know that this is often a sign of a true psychic thought. Meditate on the thought and resist trying to rationally understand it. In time its message will become more obvious.

You might also find that this exercise doesn't always work. After going through the steps, you may still not be sure if a thought is psychic or self-generated. Keep practicing the exercise and noticing the qualities of psychic thoughts. The more important or dear to our heart a question, concern, or issue may be, the easier it is for the mind to interfere and sabotage the process. When this happens, don't worry. Once you ask the question and become receptive and set the intent to receive psychic information, you will. The energy information may not come when you want it to and you may want to discount what you intuit, but you will receive a response. Quite often this happens when we are no longer thinking about our concern and doing something relaxing. This can happen while driving a car, washing dishes, taking a walk, or during any activity that quiets the thinking mind. A psychic thought will slip in when given a chance.