I would like to add something to this... "seeing" spirits is the psychic sense that gets all the attention it seems. But there are actually 4 ways to pick up this information. One is seeing which is called clairvoyant, one is hearing which is clairaudient, another is just knowing which is claircognizent and finally one is through feeling (which can include) scent which is clairsentient. Another name for clairsentient is Empath. It sounds to me like you are more of an Empath. An Empath would feel a spirit, feel a touch, or even a familiar energy like a fingerprint that belonged to that person who passed (everyone has a certain energy different from everyone else). Its explained sort of like when you are in the house and you just know someone has entered it from your family by the energy you feel before you even see them in the room. Or you smell say roses which Grandma always had in her home when she was alive. Like that, thats the way an Empath could pick up someone who passed. Someone strong in clairaudience would hear them speaking to them. Someone who is strongest in claircognizance (my spelling may be a little off, sorry) would just "know" they were there. It would be a certainty within them.

When we talk about picking up people who passed its no different than picking up any other psychic type energy. We do it through the one sense (sometimes two can overlap or more) that we are strongest in. If you look back on times when you feel you were picking something up psychically and you examine it to see which of the 4 clairs you were using..thats probably the same one you would pick up a deceased spirit's presence with also.

Its the "seeing" spirits that gets the most media attention and we're used to hearing about. But actually there are 4 ways.

Just wanted to add that to the discussion.