It’s easy to judge your people-pleasing once you recognize it. You see how it causes you to override what you want and need… And you wonder: Why can’t I just say no?
But here’s what most people miss: People-pleasing is a protection mechanism. It’s your nervous system doing its best to keep you safe. Which means that when you try to override it—your system often perceives that as a threat.
Let’s break it down:
👉 It’s an automatic response, not a conscious choice
👉 It looks selfless, but it’s actually self-protective
👉 Even small “white lies” can be part of the pattern
👉 Trying to override it can leave you frozen, wordless, or overwhelmed
So instead of trying to manage people-pleasing or shame yourself for it…
How do you shift it at the root—
and access a NO that’s loving, grounded, and clear?
In this episode, you’ll hear a real-life session with Karen, where we use the Four Pillars of Embodied Self Mastery to get underneath the pattern.
In just 15 minutes, she moves through every layer and reaches the core wound.
The next day, she said a no she hadn’t been able to say before.
Tune in to understand what embodied healing actually sounds and feels like—so you can begin shifting your own protection patterns, people-pleasing or otherwise:
