Bridging

Ozlem Ozkan

I am Özlem Özkan - a multicultural woman, a podcaster, and a teacher. I am blessed to have incredible conversations with fascinating people all over the world. I want to share those conversations with you on my podcast. My vision is to take you on a Bridge where you can level up your life and stay motivated. I want to make wisdom practical and available for everyone. - A bridge is a symbol of communication and connection. It’s necessary to provide passage over something and take you somewhere else. When you cross a bridge you take yourself somewhere else, sometimes somewhere familiar and sometimes somewhere new. -

  1. قبل ٤ ساعات

    #108 Özlem Özkan: Hidden Behaviors That Keep You Stuck

    In this solo episode, I explore how some of the behaviors that look kind, responsible, or mature on the outside can quietly keep us stuck on the inside. I reflect on how many of these patterns were once intelligent responses to life. Ways of staying connected, belonging, or feeling safe. Over time, what helped us adapt can become what limits our growth, even when we are doing everything we think we should be doing. Drawing from psychology, nervous system understanding, and lived experience, I share how overgiving, overexplaining, and staying understandable instead of honest can slowly lead to exhaustion and quiet self abandonment. Not because something is wrong with us, but because old survival strategies are still running in the background. This episode is an invitation to notice these patterns without judgment. To recognize where you may be mistaking self abandonment for kindness. And to gently begin choosing what feels more true for who you are becoming.   In this episode, you will explore • Why feeling stuck is often about adaptation, not failure • How praised behaviors can become hidden survival patterns • The difference between belonging and fitting in • Why overgiving, overexplaining, and self silencing feel safe • How exhaustion and heaviness can be signals from the body • A simple reflection to interrupt old patterns with awareness   🎙️ Host: Özlem Özkan ✧ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ozkanozlem/ ✧ Website: www.ozkanozlem.com ✧ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ozlemozkan/

    ٥ من الدقائق
  2. ٩ فبراير

    #107 Özlem Özkan: Integrity - listening to the voice within

    In this solo episode, I reflect on integrity not as a rule to follow, but as a quiet relationship with yourself. I explore how integrity begins with listening to the subtle inner signals that don’t argue or explain themselves. The feeling of ease when something is right. The heaviness when something is not. Often, when life feels complicated or draining, it’s not because we are lost, but because we have been moving away from what feels true inside us. Drawing from lived experience and gentle insight, I share how integrity shows up in small, everyday moments. Saying yes when something inside says no. Staying silent when something wants to be spoken. Over time, these moments are felt in the body as tension, irritation, or quiet resentment. This episode is an invitation to return to sincerity. To listen without pressure. And to remember that integrity is not about perfection, but about staying with yourself with honesty and care.   In this episode, you will reflect on • What integrity feels like in the body • Why life feels heavier when inner truth is ignored • How overexplaining and resentment signal misalignment • The difference between honesty and rigidity • Simple questions that help you return to yourself • Why integrity is a practice, not an achievement   🎙️ Host: Özlem Özkan ✧ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ozkanozlem/ ✧ Website: www.ozkanozlem.com ✧ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ozlemozkan/

    ٦ من الدقائق
  3. ٢ فبراير

    #106 Özlem Özkan: Why Life Repeats (The Patterns Your Nervous System Learned)

    In this solo episode, I explore why repeatedly ending up in the same situations is rarely about bad luck or wrong choices.   I reflect on how early experiences shape what our nervous system learns to recognize as familiar. What once felt normal often becomes what feels safe, even when it no longer serves us. Over time, these learned patterns quietly guide our relationships, work environments, and emotional dynamics.   Drawing from neuroscience, attachment theory, trauma research, and my own lived experience, I share how repeating situations are often survival patterns rather than personality traits. Patterns that once helped us stay connected, but may now lead to exhaustion, self abandonment, or confusion.   This episode is an invitation to move from self blame to awareness. To recognize familiarity without mistaking it for truth. And to begin creating inner safety so different choices can slowly become possible.   In this episode, you will learn about • Why repeating situations is often about conditioning, not choice • How the brain confuses familiarity with safety • What attachment patterns have to do with relationships and work • Why changing people or environments does not always change the pattern • The signs that you may be replaying an old survival strategy • Simple ways to interrupt patterns with awareness and compassion   🎙️ Host: Özlem Özkan ✧ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ozkanozlem/ ✧ Website: www.ozkanozlem.com ✧ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ozlemozkan/

    ٦ من الدقائق
  4. ٢٦ يناير

    #105 Özlem Özkan: How Childhood Shapes Adult Behavior

    In this solo episode, Özlem explores how patterns formed in childhood continue to shape our behavior as adults, often without us realizing it. She explains how the nervous system learns its first rules early in life. What feels safe. What feels risky. What brings connection and what leads to withdrawal. Those early experiences don’t disappear. They become neural pathways that guide reactions, choices, and relationships later on. Drawing from neuroscience, attachment theory, and lived experience, Özlem shows why many adult behaviors that look like personality traits are actually survival patterns. Patterns that once helped us stay connected, but may now limit how freely we live, relate, and express ourselves. This episode is an invitation to move from self judgment to understanding. To see your reactions not as flaws, but as learned responses that can be updated through awareness, safety, and compassion.  In this episode, you will learn about  • How childhood experiences shape adult behavior  • Why the brain prioritizes familiarity over what is healthy  • How attachment patterns influence relationships and work  • Why insight alone does not always change behavior • How the nervous system stores learned survival responses  • What helps old patterns soften and new choices emerge  🎙️ Host: Özlem Özkan  ✧ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ozkanozlem/  ✧ Website: www.ozkanozlem.com  ✧ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ozlemozkan/

    ٦ من الدقائق

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I am Özlem Özkan - a multicultural woman, a podcaster, and a teacher. I am blessed to have incredible conversations with fascinating people all over the world. I want to share those conversations with you on my podcast. My vision is to take you on a Bridge where you can level up your life and stay motivated. I want to make wisdom practical and available for everyone. - A bridge is a symbol of communication and connection. It’s necessary to provide passage over something and take you somewhere else. When you cross a bridge you take yourself somewhere else, sometimes somewhere familiar and sometimes somewhere new. -