Intention and Letting Go

Intention shapes direction—and in this episode, Jenna Williams explores how setting your internal focus while learning to release what no longer serves you can change how you experience life. Jenna explains how the brain’s Reticular Activating System (RAS) works like a mental GPS, guiding your awareness toward what you consistently focus on. When you set an intention, your mind begins to notice opportunities, patterns, and possibilities that were always present but previously filtered out.

Using relatable stories and practical metaphors, Jenna discusses the “halo effect” and how belief and perception influence not only how you see others, but how you see yourself. She explains that alignment is not about pretending or forcing positivity—it’s about choosing thoughts and actions that match the life you want to create. Through the idea of duality, she reminds listeners that multiple truths can exist at once, and fulfillment comes not just from achievement, but from living in harmony with your values.

The second half of the episode focuses on letting go. Jenna shares how people often carry emotional “bricks”—old mistakes, disappointments, resentment, and relationships that weigh them down. Through stories like the monk crossing the river and the monkey trap, she illustrates that holding on can feel safe but often keeps us stuck. Letting go is not loss; it is creating space for growth, peace, and forward movement.

Jenna also reframes emotional awareness as intelligence rather than weakness, explaining the mind-body connection and how thoughts, stress, and emotional patterns directly influence physical health and healing. She encourages listeners to observe their thoughts, set healthy boundaries, and remember that sometimes “no” is a complete sentence. With compassion and honesty, she emphasizes that growth requires trusting others to walk their own path while allowing yourself to evolve as well.

If you’ve ever struggled with overthinking, people-pleasing, or holding onto situations long after they’ve passed, this episode offers a gentle framework for setting intention, releasing control, and making space for peace.

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Transcript

Welcome back. Today I’m talking about intention and letting go.

If you’ve listened to previous episodes, you know I’ve talked about containers. Letting go is a big thing—and doing it intentionally is a whole other level.

Let’s start again with the reticular activating system, the RAS. You find what you focus on. If you focus on the bad, you’ll find more bad. If you focus on the good, you’ll find more good. It sounds simple, but we’re human. There are constant distractions shifting our focus.

Your RAS is like your brain’s GPS. It tells you where to go.

One of my favorite examples is the Florida effect. Two groups of people were put through a presentation. One group heard words associated with aging—elderly, slow, senile. The other group did not. When they were later walked down a hallway, the group exposed to aging words actually walked slower and appeared more feeble. That’s how powerful the filter in your brain is. You may not even realize what’s happening in your body, but your RAS is always listening.

You can train your focus. It’s a skill. Intention is deciding what halo you want to cast.

The halo effect fascinates me. One trait can color your entire perception of someone. If someone smiles, you may label them friendly. If someone doesn’t, you may assume they aren’t—even if the opposite is true. That’s the halo effect.

Now take that a step further: you can cast your own halo. If you want to show up as confident, show up as confident. That becomes your frequency. Not everyone will see you that way, but that’s the energy you’re putting out.

I show up authentically every week. That’s my halo. Some of you will love it. Some won’t. That part can be hard, but my intention is to help you catch the filter before it runs your life.

I wasn’t aware how stressed I was. I didn’t know my body was shutting down. I was just overachieving every day.

You can believe you’re living your dream—and create that halo. When people ask me what I’m doing, I say I’m living the dream. I’m alive. I’m grateful. Both things can be true. I can be a stroke survivor and a positive influencer. That’s duality.

I can have gone through the worst thing imaginable and still teach you how to live a joyful life. Both things can be true.

My perception colors everything—the halo, the RAS. That’s the filter.

I used to be addicted to achieving. Achieving felt good for a moment, then I needed the next thing. That wasn’t success. Success now is peace and joy. You can achieve without fulfillment, but you can’t be successful without alignment.

What’s aligned with you? What are you intentionally creating?

When I look back at 20-year-old Jenna or 30-year-old Jenna, she’d be proud. There were struggles and lessons, but I survived death. The success isn’t just survival—it’s sharing the story to help others live a life worth living.

There is a life review. You will judge yourself at a level you can’t understand now. So why wouldn’t you live aligned with who you are?

Give yourself five minutes a day. Observe your thoughts. Direct them. There are sixteen waking hours in a day. You deserve five minutes.

At some point, you will meet yourself. You will have to explain why you didn’t give yourself that time, why you didn’t speak kindly to yourself.

Now let’s talk about letting go.

We hold onto mistakes, disappointments, broken hearts, job loss. Those are big rocks in your container. They take up space.

Ask yourself: Is this mine to carry?

In psychology, they talk about life as a backpack. We fill it with our own burdens—and everyone else’s. Then we try to climb a mountain. Meanwhile, others move faster because we’re carrying their weight too.

Sometimes you have to let people struggle. You don’t rob them of their growth.

I taught my kids, don’t be a brick. If everyone you meet is a brick, you’re the brick. Don’t be something someone else has to carry—and don’t carry what isn’t yours.

There’s a story of two monks crossing a river. One carries a woman across and sets her down. Later, the other monk says, “I can’t believe you carried her.” The first monk replies, “I set her down back at the river. You’re still carrying her.”

That’s letting go. The event is over, but we keep carrying it.

Change “what if” to “so what.” Words are alchemy.

There’s also the monkey trap. A monkey grabs food inside a jar but can’t escape because it won’t unclench its fist. If it let go, it would be free. How many times in life could you be free if you just unclenched your fist?

Letting go isn’t loss. It’s making space.

Think of a hot air balloon. The sandbags aren’t bad—they were necessary. But to rise, you have to release them. Nothing’s wrong with the sandbags. They served their purpose. But now it’s time to rise.

Clean the cabinet. Remove what no longer serves you. Thank it, and let it go. It served a version of you. But if it’s not serving who you’re becoming, release it.

Ask yourself: Is this still serving me?

If the answer is no, give yourself permission to set it down.

Now let’s talk about emotion versus logic.

Emotion isn’t the opposite of reason—it’s the foundation. We are not thinking machines that feel. We are feeling machines that think.

Your emotions are intelligence in motion. That tightening in your chest? That gut feeling? That’s intuition.

Your mental state influences your physical health, and your physical health influences your mental state. It’s a loop.

I became addicted to stress. Society rewarded me for overachieving. I was on magazine covers. I received awards. But stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline weakened my immune system until my body shut me down.

Now I live differently. I still work. I still have responsibilities. But I protect my container.

No is a complete sentence.

Learning to let people misunderstand me was one of the hardest lessons of my life. I used to explain everything. Now my boundary is simple: If it takes my peace, it’s too expensive.

My daily mantra? “Girl, today we are going to hydrate and not raise our blood pressure.”

I divide my life like a pie chart. Half is adult responsibilities. The other half is split between me and my family and friends. You must protect your boundaries.

Life will dump on you sometimes. But as Maya Angelou said, every storm runs out of rain.

Protecting your peace allows you to survive the storms.

I don’t have to explain myself to everyone. I choose where my energy goes.

Remember: Karma is real. Energy is contagious. Vibrations matter.