"Am I just making this up?"
This is the question I hear most often — and it's the one I consider the most important. The honest answer is: at first, you genuinely can't always tell. That's not a flaw in you. That's the beginning of the work.
Here's what I've noticed over years of teaching: imagination tends to be all over the place. It wants something — it pushes, it performs, it tries to impress. Intuitive information tends to arrive quietly, without agenda, and often surprises you. It doesn't care whether you believe it.
The way you learn to tell the difference is by paying attention over time. You write things down. You notice what turns out to be accurate. You build a relationship with your own inner knowing — slowly, honestly, without forcing it.
You are not making it up. You are learning to listen.