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. 6 AVR.

    #113 Özlem Özkan: The HIDDEN TRUTH About LOVE and ATTACHMENT

    In this solo episode, I explore the difference between love and attachment, and how many of us learned to confuse the two.   I reflect on how the idea of love is often shaped by stories, culture, and early experiences. The belief that someone completes us, that love should feel intense, or that we cannot live without the other. Over time, these ideas can lead us to attach, rather than truly love.   Drawing from personal experience and insights from The Way to Love by Anthony de Mello, I share how attachment often comes from fear and dependency, while love creates space, freedom, and respect. What looks like love on the surface can sometimes be a quiet form of holding on.   This episode is an invitation to look at love more honestly. To notice where you may be holding tightly, and where you can begin to allow more space. And to gently explore what it means to love without losing yourself.   In this episode, you will explore   • The difference between love and attachment • How cultural and social stories shape our idea of love • Why attachment often feels like love, but is rooted in fear • How dependency can replace genuine connection • What it means to love with freedom instead of control • A simple question to reflect on your own relationships   🎙️ Host: Özlem Özkan ✧ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ozkanozlem/ ✧ Website: www.ozkanozlem.com ✧ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ozlemozkan/

    7 min
  2. 30 MARS

    #112 Özlem Özkan: WHY WE GIVE - How Generosity Connects Us

    In this solo episode, I explore the meaning of generosity through personal stories, cultural traditions, and simple moments that often go unnoticed in modern life.   I reflect on how I grew up around giving that felt natural and unspoken. Sharing food with neighbors, offering something without being asked, and seeing generosity not as a special act, but as part of everyday life. Over time, I also began to notice how modern environments often shift us toward protecting, comparing, and holding on, sometimes without realizing it.   Drawing from lived experience and gentle insight, I share the difference between true giving and overgiving. How generosity can come from the heart, while overgiving often comes from fear or the need for approval. And how small acts of giving, even something as simple as a coffee or a kind gesture, can create a quiet sense of connection.   This episode is an invitation to reconnect with something simple and human. To notice where generosity still exists in your life, and to explore what it might feel like to give without pressure, expectation, or calculation.   In this episode, you will explore • How generosity can be a natural part of everyday life • The difference between giving and overgiving • How cultural traditions shape our relationship with sharing • Why modern life often shifts us toward protecting instead of giving • How small acts of generosity create connection • What it means to give from the heart without expectation   🎙️ Host: Özlem Özkan ✧ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ozkanozlem/ ✧ Website: www.ozkanozlem.com ✧ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ozlemozkan/

    7 min
  3. 23 MARS

    #111 Neale Donald Walsch: What Really Matters in LIfe

    For decades, Neale Donald Walsch has guided millions of readers through his bestselling Conversations with God series, inviting people into deeper reflections about spirituality, consciousness, and the nature of reality.   In this conversation, we meet Neale in a different chapter of life. His new book Letters to a Young Seeker: Departing Thoughts from an Elder is not about adding more spiritual concepts, but about sharing what remains when ambition softens and life begins to ask more essential questions.   Rather than speaking only as a teacher, Neale reflects here as an elder looking back on a lifetime of seeking, learning, loving, and questioning. Together we explore legacy, regret, love, meaning, and what truly matters when the noise of becoming successful falls away. This conversation invites us into presence, maturity of the soul, and the quiet wisdom that appears when we remember who we already are.   In this episode, you will learn about -What it means to offer “departing thoughts” at this stage of life -How beliefs evolve when you look back on decades of spiritual inquiry -Why the search for self-improvement can sometimes keep us from feeling enough -The deeper human longing beneath spirituality and the search for God -What truly matters when you begin to think about legacy, love, and time   👤 Guest: Neale Donald Walsch ✧ Website: https://www.nealedonaldwalsch.com/ ✧ Book: Letters to a Young Seeker: Departing Thoughts from an Elder   🎙️ Host: Özlem Özkan ✧ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ozkanozlem/ ✧ Website: www.ozkanozlem.com ✧ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ozlemozkan/

    37 min
  4. 16 MARS

    #110 Özlem Özkan: Why Letting Go Feels So Hard

    In this solo episode, I explore why letting go can feel surprisingly difficult, even when we know something in our lives is no longer right for us.   I reflect on how the body responds not only to our intentions, but to what it has repeatedly experienced and memorized. Over time, familiar patterns become the body’s reference point for safety. Even when those patterns limit us, the nervous system may still hold onto them because they feel predictable.   Drawing from neuroscience, nervous system understanding, and everyday experience, I share why releasing old habits, roles, or relationships can create physical resistance in the body. Not because something is wrong with us, but because our system is adjusting to something new and unfamiliar.   This episode is an invitation to approach change with more patience and compassion. To understand that letting go is not only a mental decision, but also a biological process. And to gently support your body as it learns that something new can also be safe.   In this episode, you will explore • Why the body often resists change even when we want it • How familiarity shapes what the nervous system perceives as safe • Why letting go can create physical or emotional discomfort • The difference between resistance and moving backward • How the body slowly releases patterns it once memorized • A simple reflection to support yourself during moments of transition   🎙️ Host: Özlem Özkan ✧ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ozkanozlem/ ✧ Website: www.ozkanozlem.com ✧ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ozlemozkan/

    4 min
  5. 11 MARS

    #109 Özlem Özkan: The HIDDEN COST of Always Saying Yes

    In this solo episode, I explore why saying no can feel so difficult, even when we know it would protect our time, energy, and attention.   I reflect on how many of us learned early that being agreeable, helpful, or available helped us stay connected. These responses were often praised and became part of our identity. Over time, constantly saying yes can quietly divide our attention and exhaust the nervous system, leaving us busy but not deeply nourished by our lives.   Drawing from psychology, nervous system understanding, and everyday experience, I share why saying no can feel emotionally unsafe. Not because something is wrong with us, but because old patterns connected to belonging, approval, and identity are still operating in the background.   This episode is an invitation to approach the word no with more awareness and less guilt. To recognize that protecting your attention is not selfish, but essential. And to gently begin choosing what truly deserves your energy.   In this episode, you will explore   • Why saying no can feel emotionally uncomfortable • How belonging and approval influence our decisions • Why constant busyness can lead to nervous system overload • The hidden cost of saying yes too often • How attention and energy shape the quality of your life • A simple reflection to help you choose what is essential   🎙️ Host: Özlem Özkan ✧ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ozkanozlem/ ✧ Website: www.ozkanozlem.com ✧ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ozlemozkan/

    4 min
  6. 16 FÉVR.

    #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/

    5 min

Notes et avis

5
sur 5
4 notes

À propos

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. -