How awareness, intention, and the energy we bring into everyday life shape our connections with others.
Before I ever understood what energy was, I could feel it.
As a little girl, I couldn’t explain why I felt completely at ease around some people and unsettled around others. Nothing had happened. No one had said anything. Yet something inside me knew.
I didn’t have the words for it then.
Today, I understand that I was sensing energy.
Looking back, I realize those quiet moments became some of my greatest teachers. They eventually led me to my work as an evidential medium, my passion for helping others, and ultimately to writing Let Your Energy Lead.
Over the years, through my own spiritual journey, my career in healthcare, and my work serving others, I’ve come to appreciate something that has transformed the way I see the world.
Everything carries energy.
Every person.
Every conversation.
Every environment.
Every experience.
Every thought.
Every word.
Whether we recognize it or not, we are constantly exchanging energy with the world around us.
The people we spend time with influence us.
The places we go influence us.
The media we consume influences us.
The conversations we have influence us.
Even the thoughts we repeatedly tell ourselves shape the energy we carry.
The more aware I’ve become of this invisible exchange, the more intentional I’ve become about how I live.
Not because I’m perfect.
Far from it.
Because life has taught me that awareness changes everything.
A Work in Progress
I want to share something with you because I think it’s important.
Even though I teach about energy, I am still learning.
I am still practicing.
I still have days when I absorb too much.
Days when I carry emotions that aren’t mine.
Days when I forget to pause and check in with myself.
As someone who feels deeply, I have to continually remind myself to slow down, release what no longer belongs to me, ground myself, and come back to center.
Sometimes I simply stop and ask myself one question:
“Is this mine?”
Sometimes the answer is yes.
Sometimes it isn’t.
Either way, that moment of awareness gives me a choice.
I can continue carrying the weight…
or I can lovingly release what was never mine to hold.
That practice has changed my life.
And if you’re someone who is highly sensitive or naturally empathic, you may understand exactly what I mean.
Many of us have spent years carrying other people’s worries, emotions, expectations, and pain because we genuinely care.
Compassion is a beautiful gift.
But compassion doesn’t mean we have to carry everything.
I’ve learned that one of the greatest acts of self-care is learning the difference.
What Does It Mean to Protect Your Energy?
People often ask me what it really means to protect your energy.
To me, it isn’t about building walls or shutting people out.
It isn’t about avoiding difficult conversations or pretending life is always peaceful.
Protecting your energy begins with awareness.
It means noticing when your body needs rest.
When your mind needs quiet.
When your heart needs a moment to breathe.
It means recognizing which relationships encourage your growth and which consistently leave you feeling depleted.
It means spending time in places that restore your spirit.
For me, that might be walking outside, sitting quietly near the water, spending time in prayer or meditation, or simply giving myself permission to be still.
Most of all, protecting your energy means remembering that you cannot continually pour into others if you’ve forgotten how to care for yourself.
Protecting your energy isn’t selfish.
It’s an act of respect for the life you’ve been given.
A Question for Reflection
What kind of energetic footprint are you leaving behind, and does it reflect the energy you want to bring into the world?
The Five Pillars of Intentional Energy Living
As I wrote Let Your Energy Lead, I realized every lesson kept bringing me back to the same five principles.
They’ve become the foundation of my work, my book, and the way I try to live each day.
Awareness
Become conscious of your thoughts, emotions, habits, and the energy you carry.
Alignment
Choose to live in a way that reflects who you truly are.
Connection
Deepen your connection with yourself, with others, with Spirit, and with the present moment.
Energy
Recognize what you absorb, what you cultivate, and the impact your energy has on the world around you.
Intention
Choose the energy you want to bring into every room, every conversation, and every relationship.
Notice how naturally they flow.
Awareness → Alignment → Connection → Energy → Intention
That isn’t just a framework for my work.
It’s the path I continue to walk every single day.
The Unseen Power We Carry
One of the greatest lessons I’ve learned is that every one of us carries an unseen power.
We don’t always recognize it.
We can’t always measure it.
But we experience it every day.
Have you ever walked away from someone feeling encouraged?
Inspired?
Peaceful?
Or perhaps you’ve left a conversation feeling anxious or emotionally exhausted without knowing why.
That’s the quiet influence of energy.
Whether we realize it or not, we affect one another.
Every smile carries energy.
Every act of kindness carries energy.
Patience carries energy.
Hope carries energy.
So do fear, criticism, anger, and judgment.
The beautiful part is that every morning we are given another opportunity to choose what we bring into the world.
“Every interaction leaves an energetic footprint. May yours become part of someone else’s healing.”
— Jillian Scanlon
— Jillian Scanlon
Your Energetic Footprint
There’s one more thing I’d like to share.
Every day, we leave footprints wherever we go.
Some are visible.
Most are not.
With every conversation, every smile, every act of kindness, every moment of patience, every word of encouragement, we leave behind something of ourselves.
We also leave footprints through our frustrations, our fears, our hurried moments, and the energy we unknowingly carry from one place to another.
I call this our energetic footprint.
It is the unseen impression we leave on the hearts of others.
It lingers long after the conversation has ended.
Long after we’ve left the room.
Long after people have forgotten the words we spoke.
Because people may not always remember what we said, but they often remember how we made them feel.
That’s why becoming aware of our energy matters.
Not because we need to be perfect.
Not because we’ll never have difficult days.
But because every day offers another opportunity to pause…
to breathe…
to ground ourselves… to release what no longer belongs to us… and to choose the energy we want to bring into the world.
Your Energy Is Your Calling Card™
Every thought.
Every word.
Every choice.
Each one becomes part of the introduction you leave with the world.
And every interaction leaves an energetic footprint.
My hope is that the footprints we leave behind become pathways of kindness, hope, compassion, and healing for those who cross our path.
So wherever life leads you today… let your energy lead first.
Final Thought
Life will always bring moments that challenge us, stretch us, and sometimes make us question the path we’re on. But it also brings beautiful opportunities to grow, begin again, and discover something new about ourselves.
Be gentle with yourself along the way. Celebrate how far you’ve come, trust that you’re still becoming, and remember that even the smallest steps forward matter.
You don’t have to have everything figured out to create a beautiful and meaningful life.
Just keep showing up, keep growing, and keep being you.
With warmth and gratitude,
Jillian Scanlon
Author of Let Your Energy Lead