Huseyin Bikim joins Niiamah Ashong on the Outlier's Edge Podcast to share his story of self-growth, self-love and meditation. He describes the moment he switched off the outside noise, looked inside himself and immersed himself fully in the work of growing. What emerged is the role of curiosity in seeking, the idea that the move from selfishness to selflessness starts with self-love, and a shared wish to create spaces where people get to be heard.
Episode at a glance
- Guest: Huseyin Bikim, Shares his story of self-growth, self-love and meditation
- Host: Niiamah Ashong, coach to outlier leaders
- Show: Outlier’s Edge Podcast, released April 19, 2022
- Format: conversation, 59 minutes
- Topics: Looking inward, Immersion over dabbling, Being a seeker, Meditation and stillness, Self-love before selflessness, Spaces where people are heard
What Huseyin brought to the conversation
Huseyin Bikim stands for selflessness over selfishness and the greater good of the collective, lifting people up so everyone can walk forward together, because he believes there don't have to be losers. Before he turned inward he worked as a project manager at a translation startup and as a soccer agent, which he still is, and he says he identified with what was occurring outside of him. During the lockdowns he switched off the noise, looked inside himself for the first time, and committed fully: courses, books, handwritten notes put up around the house, and meditation for 15 minutes every day for months on end. Today, when people reach out to him, he lends a listening ear, holds space, accepts them where they are and helps them find their own truth.
What emerged
Niiamah Ashong names what made Huseyin Bikim's change work: he didn't dabble, he immersed himself, and he moved as a seeker, actively following his curiosity rather than waiting for answers to arrive. Huseyin Bikim adds that the move from selfishness to selflessness can only happen once a person arrives at self-love, and Niiamah Ashong invites him to receive support as fully as he gives it. Looking ahead, Huseyin Bikim wants his message to touch people and ignite their curiosity, and the conversation turns toward co-creating spaces where others can be heard.
Questions this episode answers
How do you build a meditation practice that lasts?
Huseyin Bikim learned a specific meditation technique from a book and sat for 15 minutes every single day, day after day for months on end. Over that time he felt a progression, as if something was happening, and he says that once you feel that, you just want to keep going.
What is the difference between being open and being a seeker?
Niiamah Ashong describes being open as being receptive to whatever comes, while being a seeker is proactive: when something comes your way, you commit to it and go looking for what else can come in. For Huseyin Bikim, curiosity is the key, knowing there are answers out there to the questions he has and knowing where to find them.
Why does self-love come before selflessness?
Huseyin Bikim says you can only make the move from selfishness to selflessness once you have arrived at a place of self-love, and that it took him a long time to get there. Niiamah Ashong adds that seeing someone take care of themselves can expand what others believe is available to them.
Why does immersion matter when you set out to change yourself?
Niiamah Ashong points out that many people dabble and then wonder why they don't have the results they want, while Huseyin Bikim bought the programs and actually worked them. Huseyin Bikim says the key was applying what he learned, because knowledge won't be any good if you don't put it into action.
Where do new answers and creative ideas come from?
Huseyin Bikim says he understood more in silence than from any spoken or written word, and that it is a misperception that finding an answer requires thinking about it. In his view, creative inspiration comes from silence and stillness, which is where everything is revealed.
In their words
I understood more in silence than I've understood from any language or any spoken word or written word.
Huseyin Bikim
You have to love yourself and then you can move from selfishness to selflessness.
Huseyin Bikim
My truth is my truth but everybody's truth is their own.
Huseyin Bikim
Key moments
02:36 – What Huseyin Bikim stands for
07:44 – Life before turning inward
11:20 – Switching off the outside noise
16:27 – Fifteen minutes a day for months
20:07 – Putting knowledge into action
24:11 – Being a seeker, not just open
25:46 – Curiosity as the key
38:42 – Answers found in silence and stillness
42:20 – Self-love before selflessness
53:15 – Co-creating spaces to be heard
About Niiamah Ashong
Niiamah Ashong is a coach to outlier leaders, host of the Outlier’s Edge Podcast, and founder of the Trailblazer Collective. He coaches leaders who are creating something only they can make: a company, a body of work or a movement. Make a difference with your difference.
Work with Niiamah: 1:1 with Niiamah | World of Difference
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