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We’re told, “Don’t take it personally. It’s not about you.”
But what if that message is exactly what keeps you in cycles of betrayal, self-blame, and repeated hurt?

In this episode of Beyond Words, Najwa Zebian reframes what it means to take things personally. Not as self-blame, not as shame, and not as “I must have deserved this”, but as a powerful way to validate your pain, revoke people’s access to you, and rebuild your definition of love.

If someone has lied to you, betrayed you, humiliated you, or consistently disrespected you behind your back, this conversation will help you say:

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• Why “don’t take it personally” can become spiritual gaslighting
• The difference between internalizing blame and claiming your pain
• How to use hurt as data: this person knew what they were doing
• Why people who rely on your maturity count on you not reacting
• How to revoke emotional access and rebuild your sense of self-worth
• How to redefine love so it no longer equals being used, walked on, and manipulated

Najwa also reads from her book The Only Constant, exploring what it really means to take something personally, without making it mean you deserved the pain.

🎧 Listen when you’re ready to stop minimizing what was done to you, and start holding people to their choices.

Books by Najwa Zebian mentioned / related to this episode:

📚 The Only Constant
📚 Welcome Home
📚 The Book of Healing

Explore the books here:
https://www.najwazebian.com/books

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Najwa+Zebian

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We often wait for the person who broke us to bring us the medicine that will heal what they broke.

Their apology.
Their acknowledgment.
Their guilt.
Their suffering.

But when you give someone the power to heal you in the same way you gave them the power to break you, you place yourself in a dangerous position, because the source you’re waiting on has already proven to be a source of pain.

In this episode of Beyond Words, Najwa Zebian explores what it truly means to be your own medicine. Not as a way of becoming cold, detached, or self-sufficient in isolation — but as a way of reclaiming your power, your compassion, and your wholeness.

This episode is for anyone who:

• Is waiting for closure that may never come
• Gives endlessly to others but neglects themselves
• Confuses love with self-depletion
• Has been conditioned to believe they are last on their own priority list

Najwa speaks about:

• Why the person who caused the wound cannot be the source of the cure
• How people-pleasing trains us to abandon ourselves
• The difference between survival safety and expansive safety
• How to give yourself the empathy, validation, and care you give so freely to others
• Why revenge is a distortion of your medicine, and self-return is its true power

This episode includes a reading from Mind Platter and reflections from The Only Constant on healing, self-worth, and becoming the person you’ve been waiting for.

🎧 Listen when you’re ready to stop begging for crumbs,  and start giving yourself the whole meal.

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We often believe that happiness lives in a different version of our life — a new job, a new relationship, a new body, or a new place. But real transformation doesn’t start from the outside in. It starts from the inside out.

In this deeply reflective episode of Beyond Words, Najwa reminds us that the most important glow up isn’t about what the world sees, but who we become within. She explores the illusion of external validation, the beauty of integrity, and what it truly means to embody the person you say you are.

Najwa reads from her first book Mind Platter and shares insights from The Only Constant, guiding you to shift your focus from changing your circumstances to strengthening your character.

You’ll learn:

• Why external success can never heal internal emptiness
• How to stop chasing validation and start embodying wholeness
• What it means to have a “soul’s glow up”
• How to rebuild your self-worth from the inside out

Your job isn’t to create a new life that looks better. It’s to become a new you that feels better.

#BeyondWords #NajwaZebian #Healing #PersonalGrowth #GlowUp #SelfWorth #Podcast

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Letting go isn’t a single decision. It’s a slow, sacred process.

In this episode of Beyond Words, Najwa explores what it really means to release someone, something, or a dream that once felt like home. You’ll learn why your struggle to let go is not a sign of weakness, but proof of how deeply you love, care, and stay loyal to what matters.

Through stories, analogies, and soulful reflection, Najwa guides you through the gentle art of loosening your grip without abandoning yourself in the process.

"Your struggle to let go is not failure. It’s evidence of your depth.”

🕒 Timestamps

00:00 — The truth about why letting go feels impossible
 01:26 — How do you actually make peace with what’s gone?
 03:45 — The beauty in your ability to hold on
 06:17 — Why holding on isn’t weakness
 07:21 — When people make you feel foolish for still caring
 08:23 — Listening to what your pain is trying to say
 09:26 — The power of going slowly
 10:38 — How to ground yourself when you shut down
 12:52 — Numbing and distraction as survival
 14:59 — “God doesn’t burden a soul more than it can bear”
 17:22 — Relapse is not failure
 19:36 — Practical steps for letting go
 20:41 — Journal prompts to understand your attachment
 22:38 — Why time alone doesn’t heal you
 25:20 — The rope analogy: how healing happens in layers
 28:54 — Climbing your emotional mountain
 30:16 — Grieving what you thought would last
 31:55 — The parts of you that still hold on
 33:03 — Words That Found Me: Epictetus on acceptance
35:07 — The nature of impermanence
36:16 — Final reflection and gratitude

🧭 Show Notes

In this episode, Najwa shares:

• The real reason it’s so hard to let go
• How holding on can be an expression of loyalty, not weakness
• The difference between forcing closure and finding peace
• What grief actually looks like when love still lingers
• How to stop judging yourself for still caring
• Why letting go takes safety, patience, and time

Key quotes:

• “If it took you years to hold on, you can’t let go in a day.”
• “Your ability to hold on shows not your weakness, but your power.”
• “You don’t let go by deciding to forget; you let go by deciding to feel.”
• “Maybe you were never meant to drop the mountain — only to climb it.”

Mentioned in this episode:
📖 The Only Constant – “I will go as fast as the slowest part of me feels safe.”
🎵 Gentle With Myself by Karen Drucker
📜 Epictetus — “Seek not that the things which happen should happen as you wish...”

Reflection prompts:

1. What am I still holding on to that no longer holds me?
2. What part of me is afraid of what life will look like when I finally let go?
3. What small step could I take today to release one thread of that rope?

Listen and remember:
You don’t let go by being stronger.
You let go by being gentler with the parts of you that still care.

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We all have habits that feel harmless but quietly drain our energy and self-worth. In this episode of Beyond Words, Najwa Zebian breaks down how habits born from pain (people-pleasing, shrinking, over-explaining) keep us stuck in survival mode.

Learn how to stop punishing yourself through your routines and start creating habits that honor your healing, growth, and peace.

✨ “Some of your habits aren’t neutral. They’re teaching you to abandon yourself.”

🕒 Timestamps

00:00 — Opening hook: The habits that betray your peace
 02:14 — How childhood wounds shape your patterns
 05:32 — Habits that look “good” but are rooted in fear
 09:00 — Why discipline without compassion becomes self-punishment
 12:45 — Replacing self-betrayal with self-respect
 16:08 — The question that changes everything: Is this habit building me or breaking me?
19:40 — How to make healing a daily habit
22:10 — Closing reflection: becoming who your habits believe in

🧭 Show Notes

You’ll learn:
• The emotional roots of destructive habits
• How “good habits” can still come from self-rejection
• Ways to replace punishing routines with nurturing ones
• How to make peace a daily practice

Reflective prompts:
• Which habit feels like a quiet betrayal of myself?
• Which new habit would help me feel more at home in my own life?

Mentioned:
📖 Welcome Home — learning to build emotional safety
📚 The Only Constant — on conscious transformation

Connect:
Follow @najwazebian for more reflections, and leave a 5-star review if this episode helped you build habits that honor who you’re becoming.

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In this episode of Beyond Words, we’re diving deep into one of the most exhausting, identity-shaping patterns so many of us carry: people pleasing.

If you've spent your life monitoring everyone’s emotions…
If you jump at the first sign of someone being upset…
If your peace depends on whether everyone around you is okay…

This episode is going to hit home.

Together, we explore:

• Why people pleasers often give the most to those who value them the least
• How childhood conditioning trains you to carry emotions that were never yours
• Why avoidant people make you feel like the villain when you express your needs
• How “fixing” others becomes a form of abandoning yourself
• Why you feel guilty when someone rejects your help
• How to stop shrinking, over-explaining, and trying to earn love through effort

This is not a conversation about becoming hard or cold.
It’s a conversation about returning to yourself... the self you left behind while saving everyone else.

Words That Found Me:
“The only people who get upset when you set boundaries are the ones who benefited from you having none.” — Unknown

Words That Held Me (from The Book of Healing):
Because You Are a Good Heart

If this episode resonates with you, please leave a rating or review. Your support helps this podcast reach the people who need it most.

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When someone stops choosing you, it can feel like being thrown away. In this heartfelt episode, Najwa explores the pain of being discarded, the illusion of lost worth, and the deep healing that begins when you finally choose yourself.

Timestamps / Chapters

00:00 – The Voice That Says “Choose Yourself”
The inner conflict between fear and truth — the voice that tells you to stay vs. the one that calls you home to yourself.

01:14 – The Pain of Being Discarded
The shock, confusion, and humiliation of feeling unwanted — and why it doesn’t define your worth.

04:18 – Stop Trying to Make Sense of It
Let go of trying to understand why someone stopped loving you. Some things aren’t meant to make sense.

05:24 – They Never Saw Your True Value
If their love vanishes overnight, they never truly saw you — only what they could gain from you.

08:59 – What Love Really Is
True love isn’t games or indifference — it’s safety, vulnerability, and care.

14:27 – When They Change Their Mind
Their change of heart isn’t your fault. Your integrity and truth remain untouched.

17:42 – The Fear of Being Alone
How fear convinces us to hold on — and how to replace it with self-compassion.

19:59 – Reclaiming Your Voice
Stop silencing yourself to be loved. Speak your truth, even if it costs you someone’s presence.

27:23 – Shifting the Question
From “How can I make them choose me?” to “How can I choose myself today?”

32:54 – Don’t Let Someone’s Trash Define You
When someone treats you like garbage, it reveals them — not you.

39:01 – Words That Found Me
Najwa reads from The Book of Healing:

43:00 – Closing Reflection
The first person who owes you to choose you — is you.

💬 Key Takeaways

• Being discarded doesn’t erase your value.
• Stop explaining what they’ve already decided not to see.
• Healing begins the moment you choose yourself.

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When you’re so used to overexplaining, overgiving, and overextending yourself — choosing silence can feel impossible. But what if silence is where your real power begins?

In this episode, Najwa explores what it means to stop trying to change people, to stop rescuing them from who they’ve chosen to be, and to finally let your peace speak louder than your pain.

Through powerful storytelling, gentle truth, and poetic reflection, Najwa helps you understand:

• Why you struggle to accept the truth about others
• How overexplaining becomes a form of self-betrayal
• Why fawning and people-pleasing are trauma responses
• The difference between compassion and self-abandonment
• How to stand in quiet integrity and let others face their own consequences

If you’ve ever been told you’re “too sensitive,” or if you’ve loved people who constantly hurt you, this episode will remind you:
 You never have to explain to someone what they already know they did.

Timestamps

00:00 — When you stop overexerting yourself and choose silence
 01:28 — Letting go of control and seeing people for who they really are
 04:26 — Why we excuse others’ hurtful behavior
 05:31 — The guilt and consequences of setting boundaries
 07:51 — Recognizing intentional harm and emotional maturity
 10:23 — On jealousy, comparison, and emotional growth
 15:53 — “Great minds think alike, but fools seldom differ” — the company you keep
 20:49 — When helping turns into self-sacrifice
 26:02 — Healthy vs. unhealthy responses to mistreatment
 30:13 — Stop trying to change people; let them reveal themselves
 31:18 — The scorpion and the frog: understanding character
 35:02 — Staying kind without betraying yourself
 36:11 — “Let Them F*** Around and Find Out” — strength in self-respect
 40:34 — Integrity, boundaries, and the quiet storm of peace
 41:41 — Final reflections: let them be who they are, and protect who you are

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If you’ve spent years in defense mode, trying to prove your goodness to people committed to misunderstanding you, this episode is for you. I share personal stories (from school days in Lebanon to adult life) about how judgment shaped my self-image, and the moment I chose to stop buying what judgment was selling. You’ll learn how conditioning fuels people-pleasing, why “being the good one” often keeps you stuck, and how to reclaim your energy, boundaries, and peace.

In this episode:

• The cost of living in “prove-them-wrong” mode
• A formative story about being misread, and what it awakened
• Conditioning, perfectionism, and why you “knew better” but couldn’t do better
• Kindness vs. enabling: stop being the sponge that soaks up poison
• Cutting judgment at the source and choosing your table
• “Words That Found Me” & “Words That Held Me” to carry with you

Favorite lines

• “Let them judge you. They will live with their judgment; you will live with your truth.”
• “If there’s no seat for you at the table, build your own and sit at it.”

Timestamps
00:00 Why defense mode drains your self-worth
01:01 Gratitude & what your notes mean to me
02:02 Today’s topic: Let them judge you
02:55 A school story that changed my lens
06:14 Being misread and the panic of losing your image
11:33 Image, integrity, and the fear of imperfection
14:01 Conditioning, nervous system, and capacity
16:02 When explaining becomes self-betrayal
19:34 Kindness ≠ enabling (the sponge metaphor)
23:10 Relationships as the biggest predictor of wellbeing
24:06 What “let them judge you” really means
25:03 A friend’s reframe: “They’re not paying your paycheck.”
26:51 Cut off judgment at the source
28:48 How people use snapshots to define your whole
31:03 When others’ insecurity tries to shrink you
33:09 “Words That Held Me”: a short poem
34:59 Choose your people, choose your life
35:55 Build your own table + closing

If this helped, share it with someone who needs relief from judgment, and leave a quick review. It helps others find the show. 💛

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You’re not crazy — you were conditioned to believe you are.
 In this powerful episode of Beyond Words, Najwa Zebian breaks down one of the most insidious forms of emotional abuse: gaslighting. From subtle lies to complete distortion of your reality, Najwa helps you understand what’s really happening when someone tries to make you doubt your truth.

She unpacks how gaslighters erase your perception of reality, why they do it, and what makes empaths, nurturers, and people-pleasers especially vulnerable. Through stories, examples, and deeply reflective insights, Najwa helps you see clearly through the fog, validate your experience, and reclaim your power.

💛
 If you’ve ever been told you’re “too sensitive,” “crazy,” or “imagining things,” this episode will help you find clarity, compassion, and strength.

Timestamps / Show Notes:

• 00:00 – You’re not crazy. You were gaslit.
• 01:10 – What gaslighting really is (and isn’t).
• 04:34 – The story of Betty Broderick: A real-life case of gaslighting.
• 07:41 – Why gaslighters do it.
• 10:01 – Why you were “chosen.”
• 13:20 – The DARVO tactic: Deny, Attack, Reverse Victim and Offender.
• 17:24 – The hook: mirroring and emotional bonding.
• 20:42 – The 5-course meal metaphor.
• 23:41 – From breadcrumbs to confusion.
• 27:10 – The “fog” strategy.
• 29:43 – Words That Found Me: Alan Watts quote.
• 32:54 – Stop stirring the mud.
• 33:55 – You don’t deserve mistreatment — even in your vulnerability.
• 38:42 – Words That Held Me: ‘Delusion’ excerpt from Welcome Home.
• 43:57 – You are not weak. You survived erasure.

Key Takeaways:

• Gaslighting is not confusion — it’s calculated manipulation.
• Empaths and nurturers are often targeted because of their deep capacity for love.
• Stop trying to make sense of the senseless — clarity comes when the fog settles.
• Healing begins when you stop labeling yourself as what they tried to make you.
• Education and awareness are your power.

If this episode resonated with you, share it with someone who still blames themselves for being gaslit.

Please leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify — it helps others find healing Beyond Words.