Nienna wrote:How do you recognise thoughtform from spirits interacting with you as an imaginery friend?
Do you grow thinking it was a thoughtform you created and discover that it was in fact a spirit (or it was not a spirit but a thoughtform)?
Muse was on point about this so there's not too much I can add.
In my particular example with the imaginary friend, I always knew he was real...he just came out of nowhere and began interacting with me when I moved to a certain area (which was a huge paranormal hotspot, portals everywhere, the place was craaaazy).
The fact my mom experienced him independently of me proved there was more to him objectively, and when I grew up and reached out to find him - being told who/what he
actually was just sealed the deal.
(He was an angelic being, I saw him as a little boy because that's what I could handle at the time. Though I had also seen him as a spider at another point, unsure why I could handle that as a wee lass! He must have hypnotized me.
So, it is also good to keep in mind how beings can potentially take on very different forms depending on the person, and you may mistake that for being something you made up when it was simply their choice to show you this aspect.)
However, yeah, thoughtforms feel very different from a spirit or living being. It's hard to explain this perfectly as you would get it better from direct experience. Should you encounter a variety of beings and keep note of how they are manifesting for you or what you get from them, then you can compare and would instantly know when something is just a thoughtform (or even...a thoughtform gone rogue, lol).
"There are only two tragedies in life: one is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it."
—Oscar Wilde