See my previous post: ESP misconceptions, part 1

Out of our innate abilities—sight, sound, touch, smell, taste and ESP—psychic sensitivity is the most subjective, and at least for me, inconsistent sense. This means when we receive messages—many that burst forth and last only a millisecond—we can easily misconstrue or discount them.

Interpreting a message correctly can be difficult

The most talented seers I know recognize how easy it is to skew a transmission’s meaning. The flash of a mind picture and the odd, conveyed sentence must not be embellished. However, since we’re human, it’s easy to misconstrue communiqués based on personal experience.

Let me share a personally disturbing incident caused by my misinterpretation of a premonition. The Christmas Eve after my Goldfield Hotel experience, my family posed for a holiday photo. As the flash popped, next year’s portrait filled my mind for a mere instant.

One of my male family members was not in the picture.

The image was so fleeting, I couldn’t tell who’d gone missing. I fretted over it and the incompleteness of my comprehension. I then made a big mistake: I assumed the vision indicated death.

A painfully anxious period followed.

My father underwent knee surgery. I feared my vision involved him. Thankfully, I was wrong.

In October, I had my answer. A close relative endured a scary period of hardship and couldn’t be with us for the Thanksgiving/Christmas season, explaining a male absence in the family photo I had intuited the year before. Luckily, he prevailed through his trials and has since rejoined us for family celebrations.

I’d read far too much into that photograph. I could’ve preserved my stomach lining and avoided a semi truckload of stress if I hadn’t read that premonition wrong.

Being emotionally wrung out that year caused me to shut down my psychic abilities. And, as of today, I’m still not where I was intuitively four years ago. If I’d only realized my mistake sooner, I wouldn’t be playing catch up now.

Some days I’m more connected than others

The ability to recognize ethereal contact can come in waves, especially for those of us still honing our sixth sense. Many times, I’m frustratingly clueless. But other days, I’ll see with a surprising clarity.

What irritates me most, though, is when I experience a message then disregard it as a creation of my imagination to later realize it was real. After all this time, my skeptical side can still negate a valid experience.

I believe most people can’t dictate the consistency of this sense and only through practice and mindfulness can we grow, increase the stability of this perception and use this ability wisely, the way God intended.

Read ESP misconceptions part 3 in three weeks.