The voice of anxiety and the voice of intuition can sound remarkably similar at first. But one will manifest your dreams, and the other will keep you running in circles forever. Let’s explore how to discern intuition from anxiety to manifest the life you love.
Watch the Featured Video – How to discern INTUITION from ANXIETY to manifest
The waiting period
Because in this waiting period, you start feeling these nudges. To text someone or to apply for that job. To book that trip or to reach out to that person. Your mind is buzzing with ideas and suddenly you feel this urge to DO something. And I get it – stillness feels like we could be doing more. Our human brain has this bias, it’s called the action bias.
But here’s the million-dollar question that most people never ask: Is this intuition speaking? Is this inspired action from your Higher Self? Or is this your ego, your old stories, your anxiety trying to keep you exactly where you are?
Because here’s what nobody tells you – the voice of anxiety and the voice of intuition can sound remarkably similar at first. They both feel urgent. They both say ‘you need to do this NOW.’ – even if they have a different urging energy.
But one will manifest your dreams, and the other will keep you running in circles forever.
How to tell the difference
So how do we tell the difference? How to discern intuition from anxiety? Well, it all comes down to the energy behind the action.
Intuition feels open
Intuition – that’s the whisper of your Higher Self, the word of God, the Universe itself speaking through you. And here’s how you recognize it:
- It comes from love.
- It feels calm, even when it’s urgent and feels time-sensitive.
- There’s this peaceful knowing, like ‘yes, this is it, that’s what I should do.’
- You feel it as inspiration in your body – maybe a lightness in your chest, maybe just this quiet certainty.
- It feels good, even if it’s challenging.
- It doesn’t come with conditions. It’s not ‘if I do this, then that will happen.’ It’s just ‘let’s do this and see what unfolds.’
- It doesn’t even feel like much and it doesn’t come with a lot of overthinking or expectations for the specific outcome, or any outcome really.
Sometimes intuition tells you to do nothing at all – because the Universe is taking care of everything. But sometimes it wants you at exactly the right place at the right time for the magic to happen.
Anxiety feels contracted
Anxiety comes from the lower self – the Ego, the mind, the conditioning and limiting beliefs – our experience so far. That’s how it feels:
- Anxiety comes from fear.
- You can feel it in your belly, in your solar plexus. It’s that stress response in your body.
- It feels contracted, urgent in a panicked, scarcity way.
- It always comes with conditions – ‘if I don’t do this, then this terrible thing will happen or miss an opportunity or certain things won’t happen.’
- It’s your conditioning speaking, not your knowing.
Should you trust your emotions?
Now, I need to be real with you about something. You’ve probably heard people say ‘trust your emotions, they’re your guides.’ And look, that’s beautiful advice… if you’re someone with extremely good self-connection and self-trust, where the healing through increased awareness has already taken place. But most of us? We’re not there yet.
Most of us cannot always use our emotions to dictate what we should or shouldn’t do. That’s exactly why this discernment is so crucial.
Example: you’re building a business
Let’s say you want to start a business – sell something you create online. It’s been your dream your whole life, and you’re finally working on it. How exciting! You’re running on pure motivation for days, maybe weeks.
And then… the dread hits. The doubt floods in. ‘What was I thinking? This is so hard!’ These heavy emotions come up – what do you do?
Do you trust them? Think they’re the Universe’s way of redirecting you? Stop the project before you get in too deep, before you hit a dead end? Before you invest too much?
Or do you acknowledge the emotion – knowing it’s here because you’re challenging limiting beliefs? Maybe beliefs about not deserving riches, financial independence, not being worthy of having your own business because that’s what you’ve experienced your whole life? Because you don’t know a single person who made it?
Here’s what previously anxious people must do: Accept the desire for more, then go all in – with the fear in the backseat of the car. The fear, the doubt, the tiredness can come with you, but you stay the course. Because you know that only your consistency and faith can build this thing. Success isn’t built in a day or even a month. Not every emotion means something of essence for the current you, who has it, who embodies the new story: it’s simply a shadow of the old story and it’s okay it’s here.
Like in this song “I do it anyway” I see all over Instagram. “I do it mad, I do it sad, I do it glad” – that’s the point.
Another angle how to discern intuition from anxiety
And here’s another way to think about it. Intuition often feels random – but like, good random. You know what I mean? Like suddenly you feel called to take a different route home, or reach out to someone you haven’t spoken to in months, or pick up a book at the bookstore that just catches your eye. There’s no logical reason, but there’s this gentle pull. Almost like a nudge to do it for the enjoyment of the process of doing it.
Comment your best ‘good random’ intuitive moment – the time you followed a weird nudge and it led to magic.
Anxiety, on the other hand, is always trying to solve a problem. It’s always ‘if I do this, then I can avoid that terrible thing.’ It’s problem-focused, future-focused, fear-focused.
It depends on your connection with Yourself
And look, depending on your connection with yourself, and the amount of trauma that you’ve probably released, the amount of shadows that you’ve integrated back into you as the whole… depending on this, your ability to discern will be different. This is why it takes time. It’s a process.
Some days you’ll be crystal clear. Other days, everything will feel muddy. That’s normal. That’s part of the journey.
But here’s what I really want you to understand. In that waiting period, when you’re feeling these nudges, remember – one is out of love, one is out of fear. But both can feel urgent – but one excited urgent, and one fearful urgent.
So you listen to your body. Always ask yourself – if this is something that I do from the position of love, or the position of fear. Feel into it. Don’t think into it – feel into it.
The more you follow the intuitive voice, the stronger it gets, the more self-trust is built. I have a separate video and blog post about building self-trust.
So here’s what you do. Before you take any action, pause. Feel into your body. Ask yourself: ‘Am I doing this from a position of love or a position of fear?’
If it’s love – there’s space around it. Even if it’s challenging, even if it scares you, there’s this underlying okayness. If it’s fear – it feels tight, rushed, like you have no choice, like disaster will strike if you don’t do this right now. It will be accompanied by the feeling of scarcity and lack.
Conclusion
Remember, you are the I AM awareness having this human experience. You have access to infinite wisdom. The Universe is always speaking to you – through your body, through your intuition, through synchronicities, through those beautiful random moments that feel like magic.
To learn how to discern intuition from anxiety, your job is to learn the language. And to distinguish between the voice of love and the voice of fear. To trust yourself enough to follow the nudges that feel expansive, even when they don’t make logical sense. And to have the courage to sit with the uncomfortable emotions without letting them dictate your choices.
