We've all been there. Heart racing, thoughts spiraling, bouncing from one "what if" to another. The mind ping-ponging one negative thought to another with no cause, validity, or rationality, yet it feels so normal.

To someone unaware of the differences between anxiety and intuition, they can feel awfully similar. If you're someone who can't seem to tell if you're going down a nervous spiral or having a moment of connectedness with your higher self, you're in luck!

You're going to understand the key differences between anxiety and intuition and even better understand the different types of intuition.

Anxiety vs. Intuition

It can be a little confusing if you aren't aware of the differences between anxiety and intuition. 

Anxiety has the characteristics we think are intuition, and the characteristics of intuition are the ones we often ignore. 

Some key characteristics of anxiety are:

• Major overthinking

• Overwhelming feelings of worry and fear

• Chatter brain and downward spirals

• Increased heart rate

• Perspiration

• Shallow breaths

Anxiety usually happens as a response to some external factor. Perhaps someone said something to you or did something to you to bring up anxiety. Other times, it's your own thoughts that cause anxious feelings. 

Your thoughts are so powerful that they can cause you to have these emotional reactions to them. This is why having a downward spiral of thoughts can be extremely draining on your mental state. So when you have anxiety-inducing thoughts, you're going to feel symptoms of anxiety like shallow breaths and increased heart rate. 

But the key to remember here is that your intuition will never be this loud. And this is why most people don't hear it because they either don't hear it or ignore it. 

On the other hand, your intuition is much quieter, and it can be misjudged as a passing thought or even a thought that's not yours. It can easily be overlooked if your intuition is telling you something you don't want to hear. 

Let's use an example!

Say you're driving home and begin worrying that someone is following you. You don't know for sure, but you start panicking and feeling extremely cautious of everyone around you. Your heart is beating so fast you can't focus on your actual driving. This could be because someone is following you and your natural instinct to feel this way. Or, it's your anxiety that's taking one piece of information (a car going in the same direction as you for a prolonged time) as someone fixating on you. 

Your intuition, on the other hand, could show up as a passing thought or little feeling that someone is following you. Still, you have no reason to believe it because you don't see anything alarming. So you decide (without intention) to take a different route home that happens to pass a police station or a street with lots of shopping centers and people. 

Sometimes you don't know why you make certain decisions; you just do - that's your intuition. 

Your intuition can show up for you in various ways. Not everyone sees visions like Raven; for some, it's a feeling; for others, it's a knowing. So don't feel bad that your intuitive abilities are different from someone else. 

Here are the key differences between anxiety and intuition: 

Anxiety: 

• Anxious thoughts focus on the past and future and create a sense of nervousness, worry, and dread

• Anxious thoughts are highly emotional, which is what causes a sense of unease and fear

• Anxious thoughts can seem like they are restricting you and make you feel small

• Anxiety feels like a threat or fear of an imminent threat

Intuition: 

• Intuitive thoughts focus on the present and, create a sense of calm peace, and always remain neutral

• Intuitive thoughts are not attached to emotions

• Intuitive thoughts feel open and expansive; they make you feel like the world is wide open to accept you

• Intuition brings clarity and relief

Although anxiety and anxious thoughts can seem like your intuition trying to talk to you, it's not. It's a response to your thoughts and feelings in the current moment, plus worries from the past and doubts about the unknown future that cause these reactions. 

If you remember anything, remember this: anxiety is loud, and intuition is quiet. If you hear a thought over and over again yelling to catch your attention, it's anxiety. If you have a thought that begins with "what if" followed by something negative, it's anxiety. 

Understanding the difference between the two will bring you enlightenment and a sense of peace because you now know the key differences between a perceived threat and something that's not.