Déjà vu, or “I’ve been here before” feelings, are not uncommon. Many people experience them with varying intensity. Sometimes, the feelings and impressions are so strong that it’s comparable to being transferred back to another place and time, complete with all the décor. At other times, it may simply be a vague, undefined feeling of familiarity. Feelings of the “I’ve been here before” variety are often produced by accidentally tuning into a new place and then finding they coincide with feelings within our memory. We relate what we are experiencing from the surroundings to something more familiar with us in our present life. That memory may be a picture of something we saw in school, from a dream or from a variety of sources. Discerning whether it is a true déjà vu experience or something you are relating to from your present life, can be difficult.
 
Even if you can’t discern, the most important part is realizing that your own, natural clairsentience is operating. What you are picking up from the environment is the trigger for the “I’ve been here before” feelings. Whether it relates to a past life, or to something you have experienced more recently, isn’t what you should focus on initially. Focus on the fact that your body and your senses have picked up impressions from the environment. As you focus your attention on what your feeling, rather than trying to understand and discern it all, you will become even more sensitive to those feelings that are impinging upon you from the environment. Don’t try to focus on details. Initially you may only get general impressions. You may simply have an idea of a particular emotion, issue or event with no definable facts. Though practicing, this will become stronger.

1. Relax and experience what you are feeling. Do not force it.

2. Do not worry if images of the present arrive. The may simply be, and often are, images that the subconscious is using to help you understand what you are experiencing. It can be a way of helping you establish some parameters for relating.

3. Ask yourself some simple questions, and trust your first impression. Pay attention to which way you feel as you ask them: Have those who lived here been happy or sad? Do you feel comfortable or uncomfortable? Warm or cold?
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

4. Run through the senses, and assess your emotional response to the place. Breathe deeply through the nose. How do you feel when you smell the place? Does the sound of your voice or the voices of other stimulate a response? Stand in different places and look the place over with your eyes. Do some views seem more comfortable or pleasant to you? Do your emotions change? Also, as you stand in different places, close your eyes, and ask yourself how you feel: happy? Sad? Warm? Cold?

5. Record anything that you feel or experience—even if it doesn’t make sense. Recording it often triggers greater clarification. It helps pull the information out of that vague ethereal realm and crystallize it in your own mind. Occasionally, you may wish to record why you think you felt the way you did. Let the imagination run, even if it seems an outrageous possibility and that you are “making it up.” You may discover there is more to your imaginings than you thought possible. If it does nothing else, it develops more flexibility in the mind, and sends a message to the subconscious that you are ready for even greater perceptions.

6. At some point you may wish to study the location or building to discover the veracity of your impressions. Asking residents in the area is helpful. Going to the library or city records may also provide input. Don’t be discouraged if nothing turns up. It doesn’t mean that you were wrong. There just may be no record of it.