Updated 2022.11.28

Wondering how to tell when a deceased loved one is around? In connecting with Spirit, I’ve discovered some common themes. So in today's post, I'd like to share the most common signs loved ones send with you -

Through dreams, feeling sensations, or hearing a meaningful song on the radio while thinking about them, there are many signs that a deceased loved one is with you.

Your deceased loved ones do attempt to connect with you after their passing.

There are many reasons why they return to visit. Thankfully, you don't have to be a medium or even go to one to experience the presence of a deceased loved one that you know personally.

It's incredibly common to notice the signs your deceased loved ones are around once you know what they are.

Direct methods of communication, such as visitations and physical signs, can occur anywhere and at any time. However, they are most common when you are alone and aware of your surroundings to take notice.

You can receive a sign when you are fully awake, in a twilight state of dreaming and waking or in a dream state.

After speaking and hearing from thousands of people, I've come up with a list of the most common methods your loved ones have used to visit you.

Hopefully, the below list can help you identify when your loved ones are stopping by.

When you experience one or more of these visitation methods below, they can act as surefire signs that a loved one is nearby.

10 Most Common Signs From Your Deceased Loved Ones

1. Dream visitations

Deceased loved ones visiting in dreams is ubiquitous. 

I feel this is the most common way to be visited by those in Spirit, both by deceased loved ones and Spirit Guides.

While you may talk yourself out of a visitation dream even if you've had one, these types of dreams are much different than regular dreams. 

In Spirit visitation dreams, a deceased loved one often enters the dream and is surrounded by some sort of light. There is usually a level of peace you experience upon waking. 

Visitation dreams are common as early as eight weeks after the crossing of a loved one and can continue sporadically for years.

The good news is that visitation dreams are usually comforting.  

In the dream, a deceased loved one may talk to you or ask you to deliver messages. They usually give off some sort of comfort that they are okay, everything is peaceful and that they made it to The Other Side comfortably. 

Pets can come in visitation dreams, too. 

2. Sensing their presence

Many people report sensing the presence of their loved ones around them after their passing.

You might notice a shift when they are around – either a change in the energy or actual movement in the air. 

You might feel like someone is sitting next to you in the evenings while you read a book. Directly sensing the energy of your loved one about, is very common. 

If you were very close with the person you feel is visiting, and you were able to notice their presence while they were alive – you still have this ability after they have shifted from physical into Spirit form.

They are the same essence they were with the body, and now, without the body. 

So if you could've been able to sense your loved one step into the room while they were living, you can still do it now. 

3. Feeling their touch

A hug, a brush of your hair, holding your hand, or a gentle touch on your back – these are some of the most comforting forms of connection that can happen.

These types of visitations are most common when you are someone who enjoys quality time.

Feeling a loved one's touch is most common to sense in the days directly following your deceased loved one's passing. It is also most typical to experience in the early hours of the morning. 

This ability to sense touch can also manifest in feeling them not touch you, but feeling an object near you move. For instance, noticing someone sitting or lying down in the bed next to you.

4. Smelling their fragrance

The ability to smell the fragrance from a deceased loved one or Spirit is called clairalience.

These visits are commonly reported as the fragrance of a loved one’s perfume, flowers, or cooking.

You may get home and notice your house suddenly smells like your grandmother, or suddenly smell cigar smoke. 

If you smell cigar smoke, and no one smokes in your house, except your deceased grandfather – chances are, it's him. He's letting you know he's around, visiting, and saying hello. 

When specifically missing a loved one, if you have sensed this before, know it can help with grieving to have candles and fragrances around to remind you of them individually.

You may even enjoy cooking with some of the spices and ingredients they used.

5. Hearing their voice

This is called clairaudience. 

It is possible to hear the voice of your deceased loved one externally, as though they are speaking to you in human form. You may also hear their voice internally, through thought or word transference.

Most people report their loved ones communicating with them through this form of internal dialogue, the same way mediums report connecting with loved ones for others. 

Internal clairaudience is the most common way to hear a voice, as the hearing happens inside your mind. Those in Spirit no longer have a voice box, so creating an external noise is very hard, but not impossible. 

You may hear your loved one call your name, or someone in your home may. 

Do you talk to your husband, grandmother, or best friend on The Other Side, in your mind while doing dishes or regular chores?

Take a moment, and wait to see if you can hear a response.  

If you can't or don't hear your loved one's voice, you may also hear a temporary ringing or buzzing in the ear when they are present.

This has to do with the vibration at which they are communicating to us now.

6. Unexpected electrical activity

We all have energy and energy runs through all things, including electrical devices. Many of those in Heaven learn that the energy in electrical devices is quite easy to manipulate.

For this reason, it is quite common for those in Spirit to manipulate the TV, flicker lights, and toys to get your attention. They can turn things on and off, change channels, and make things move.

Songs on the radio, for example, are a favorite electrical way for those on The Other Side to deliver to you messages that you may need to hear - right at that exact moment. 

7. A phone call

The day after one of my loved ones passed over, I received several phone calls from unknown numbers, with nothing but static on the other line.

While discussing this event with friends, they recounted similar experiences, in the days following the passing of their loved ones, too. 

I've since heard it many times, that odd phone calls in the days after passing is a way the deceased may try to get in touch. 

Since a phone is an electrical object, manipulating the energy to make a phone call is not much different than manipulating other electrical activity. 

This sign seems to be most common in the immediate days following the transition, so I would look for it most within the 7-10 day crossing over window.

8. Receiving a synchronistic message, sign, or coincidence

Your deceased loved ones are often very eager to let you know they are part of your life and with you.

When you ask for a tangible sign, you are likely to receive it. 

While many people can feel their deceased loved ones watching over them, sometimes, it's hard to be that perceptive or to be sure that what we felt was what you thought it was. 

So, those in Spirit can provide us with signs that we cannot ignore.

Once you receive a single type of sign, time and time again, you will start to know and trust this is a message from The Other Side. 

Physical, tangible signs that deceased loved ones send can come to you in a variety of ways. 

To help narrow down what you're looking for, keep your eye open for synchronicities and explicitly ask for a sign.

A symbolic message can come from a sign, coincidence, or synchronicity.

A few of the most common tangible signs from Spirit are: Small Objects, like Feathers, Coins, and Stones, Animal Messengers, Flowers, and The Synchronistic Meetings of People or Resources.

These are just a few examples of physical signs and synchronicities that can suggest the presence of Spirit.

9. Movement

Sometimes, those in Spirit move objects to get your attention.

Does the same photograph keep falling? Is the same thing always being misplaced? 

This method of communication is a favorite for those:

• Whose attention is hard to reach

• Who are grieving and hard to connect with energetically

• Who have been historically stubborn to The Spirit World

Also, moving objects creates noise, which can startle your awareness, too. They may slide objects across tabletops, drop paintings from walls, or push things off shelves.

Moving things is a preferred sign among those who would like to deliver a message and want to wake up whom they are visiting to get them to listen to that message.

10. Seeing an apparition (flat photo, hologram, partial, full)

Believe it or not, seeing an apparition, while you are awake, with your eyes open, is one of the least common methods on this list. Though it's the most widely cited in popular media, due to its shock value, it's quite rare, but it's possible. 

Apparition sightings are most common during the night or evening when the external lighting is less saturating to the optical field, and it is easier to see the subtle energies. 

If your deceased loved one doesn't appear to you in full ghost form yet, it doesn't mean they haven't attempted contact in one of the many other methods on this list.

So to recap, the 10 most common signs from loved ones are

1. Dream visitations

2. Sensing their presence

3. Feeling their touch

4. Smelling their fragrance (common with pets and grandparents!)

5. Hearing their voice

6. Unexpected electrical activity

7. Unknown phone calls

8. Receiving a synchronistic message, sign, or coincidence

9. Movement of objects, such as paintings falling off walls

10. Seeing an apparition (flat photo, hologram, partial, full)

Can you think of any of the above that you’ve already experienced? 

These are a few of the signs your loved ones can use to visit you, and there are many more. They count for friends, pets and family members, even coworkers.

Many people find that visits from their loved ones are common and plenty in the days, weeks, and months following loved ones passing, but they can continue for years. 

There is no such thing as time in Spirit, but love is endless and eternal, so you may experience visitations for as long as you are alive. 

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