Stop the Spiral: Practical Anxiety Skills with Dr. Foojan Zeine

Licensed psychotherapist and author Dr. Foojan Zeine joins Rich to unpack Awareness Integration Theory (AIT)—a practical framework that helps you observe your inner world, reality-check assumptions, integrate past parts, and choose your next best action. She shares concrete ways to reduce anxiety, explains why some anxiety “leaks” biologically, and introduces the Foojan app with an embedded AIT-trained coach, Mira. If you want fast, deep tools to move from surviving to thriving, this one’s worth a close listen. 

Sponsored by CleverCat Marketing 

Guest Bio:  

Dr. Foojan Zeine is a licensed psychotherapist, author of six books, creator of Awareness Integration Theory (AIT), and host of the long-running podcast “Inner Voice: A Heartfelt Chat with Dr. Foojan.” With 30+ years of clinical and organizational work, she teaches and researches AIT across universities and programs, and recently launched the Foojan app, which guides users through AIT journaling and on-demand coaching via an AIT-trained AI assistant named “Mira.”  

Main Topics: 

·         The origin of AIT: two “cameras” of awareness (inside feelings/thoughts/body + outside behaviors/impact). 

·         Anxiety demystified: protective signal, the “cliffhanger” thought loop, and reality-checking to calm spirals. 

·         When anxiety “leaks”: biological components (e.g., OCD-type patterns) vs. normal worry, and why numbing is a band-aid. 

·         Integration work: finding the memory where a belief formed, healing, reconnecting “parts,” and building a strengths toolbox. 

·         Foojan app: 31 life areas, guided journaling, pre/post checks, and “Mira” for skills and actionable next steps. 

·         Guardrails for AI in mental health: domain-bounded knowledge and safety “no-go” responses. 

·         Applications of AIT: psychotherapy, coaching, parenting, education (daycare to university), and leadership/organizational culture. 

·         Dr. Zeine’s personal journey (immigration at 12½, high anxiety/depression, learning to thrive) and client success stories.  

Resources mentioned: 

·         Foojan app (Apple & Android); site: Foojan.com (app info) 

·         AwarenessIntegration.com (method info; moving toward a virtual clinic) 

·         Dr. Foojan Zeine’s site (as stated): “Foujon Zayn.com” (Dr. Zeine’s personal site) 

·         Podcast: Inner Voice—A Heartfelt Chat with Dr. Foojan (~408 episodes) 

·         Books:

§  Life Reset (public, guided work)

§  Awareness Integration Therapy (for therapists/coaches)

§  Intentional Parenting (with Dr. Manoukian & Eileen Manoukian; Dr. Nicole Jafari)

§  Awakened Leadership (with Dr. Ben Ambashande; AIT + org development) 

·         Institutions/Programs Mentioned:

§  California State University, Long Beach (AIT classroom research)

§  ASU—Arizona State University; early schooling in Arizona

§  Gem Educare (daycare using AIT; expanding to K-12) 

·         Episode Sponsor: CleverCat Marketing

·         Supporter: Real Life Prosthetics

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Transcript

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Wendy & Rich 0:00
Hey, everyone is Rich Bennett. Can you believe it? The show is turning 10 this year. I am so grateful for each and every one of you who've tuned in, shared a episode, or even joined the conversation over the years. You're the reason that this podcast has grown into what it is today. Together, we've shared laughs, tears, and moments that truly matter. So I want to thank you for being part of this journey. Let's make the next 10 years even better. Coming to you from the Freedom Federal Credit Union Studios. Harford County Living presents Conversations with Rich Bennett. 

Rich Bennett 1:13
Today, I'm joined by Dr. Frujan Zayn, a licensed psychotherapist, author, and the brilliant mind behind Awareness Integration Theory. With over 30 years of experience and a new app that's revolutionizing mental wellness, Dr. Zayn is here to share insights that could change the way you think about your mind, your habits, and your happiness. How you doing, Dr. Zayn? 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 1:42
I'm doing great. It's so nice to be with you and everyone who's listening to us. 

Rich Bennett 1:46
Oh, well, thank you. So when I first read this, and when you came on, you blew my mind, because over 30 years, I'm like, "Ain't no way." Then when you told me your actual age, I still think you're lying. But you've dedicated more than 30 years to mental wellness. What actually drew you into this work? 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 2:13
A lot of working on my own mental health. 

Rich Bennett 2:17
Oh, 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 2:18
Yeah. Isn't there saying that all of the therapists first go into school because they want to know about themselves and they want to heal themselves? Most of people who go into a helping field. There's something about whether it was about themselves or they had a family member that they had to do. So it's really personal. And yes, I have high levels of anxiety, high levels of... I could even say I had chronic depression since childhood, which I had no idea. I thought it was the 

Rich Bennett 2:46
right. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 2:46
core of life. And then I came to US when I was about 12 and a half alone. So the concept of, you know, kind of raising myself through life. And then you know how all of us figure out, oh, if I just do the things that society tells to me, you know, get married 

Rich Bennett 3:07
Yeah. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 3:07
and buy a house and then, you know, have a business or have the work in this career and go to school and get a degree and then just do all of these achievements, you know, then your happiness will be absolutely guaranteed. So I did all of that and then I was still miserable. I'm like, okay, that didn't work. 

So that got me into going back into psychotherapy and, you know, relational psychotherapy... Marital therapy and then going into a lot of self-procass seminars and really digging, digging, digging in what's going on with me. And then I got that, you know, I was just allowing myself to survive, because that's how it was and I did a pretty good job surviving. I didn't know how to live. I didn't know how to thrive. I just, you know, had to go through the anxiety of surviving all the time and then the minute I made it, because I didn't know how to do, I would create another chaos. I'm sure some of the people who were listening to us probably relate. I was at odds or create another chaos and, you know, because that's all I knew, you know, to live and kind of survive through chaos, you know, drama. And then, well, point like, okay, I'm getting tired of this drama thing and how do I even live drama free but not get bored. So there was, this is how I went back to therapy and working on myself and then I fell in love with the field of listening and listening to people, listening to my inner self, to other people's self and looking at, wow, why the resilience the humanity has and how we interpret stuff, how do we create all of these formant-less for ourselves in order to survive and then we get caught into the same, you know, the, the threads that we've weaved and then we know why the other get out of it again. 

Rich Bennett 4:57
Nope. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 4:58
And it was just fascinating to work with all of it, like addiction, you know, dissociative disorders. And I worked in psychiatric words, and you know, the deep end. And then I looked at very functional, you know, high end. 

And I became, I'm cheap going to other therapists who, 

Rich Bennett 5:31
mm-hmm, 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 5:32
yeah, so I'm not just to learn as a client who am I, and how does this land on me. And then I developed, it was almost like each one of these theories had a duel, it was like the best. And then they kind of stopped in a place where the other one picked up. And so as I was experiencing these and everything I learned I would bring it into my sessions with clients and, you know, pick and choose what orientations or interventions and things worked, kind of best of what I had learned and brought it into. 

Rich Bennett 6:05
Right. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 6:05
And this integration theory, which goes very deep, very fast, and it has the same component, it has the awareness component, it has the integration of all of our different parts, which we kind of separate from. And bring it together so you could be a whole person and consistently create, you know, be aware of yourself and your surrounding and live in reality of what is and co-create life. 

Rich Bennett 6:29
I want to back up a minute, because you, you blew my mind when you said you were 12 and a half when you came over here by yourself. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 6:38
Yeah, I went to a boarding school, Johnson School in Scottsville, Arizona. 

Rich Bennett 6:43
Okay. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 6:44
Yeah, I went to boarding school and then, you know, from there I was 15 and when I graduated and I went to ASU, Arizona State University. And then I moved to LA. 

Rich Bennett 6:54
Wow, 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 6:55
yeah, moved to LA and then started working. I started working like three jobs since eight, 

Rich Bennett 7:01
17. So you moved to LA when you were 17? 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 7:04
I moved to LA when I was 20. 

Rich Bennett 7:07
20. That had to be a big shock to you. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 7:10
It was, it was. I remember I moved to LA and I was the first night that we, I was, you know, a rent of this apartment. 

And, and I was moving in and then the first in the, um, stairway as we were coming up, you know, somebody's, 

Rich Bennett 7:28
um, 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 7:29
me cocaine. I'm like, 

Rich Bennett 7:31
wow. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 7:32
Okay, this is LA that I'm moving into. So it was, it was a big shock to just moving, you know, from Scottsville, Arizona, or temporarily Arizona, because I was going to ASU to suddenly like, you know, this, kind of popular, it's in type of 

Rich Bennett 7:48
yeah, 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 7:48
a area to move in and, um, 

Rich Bennett 7:52
big culture shock, 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 7:53
big culture shock, yeah. 

Rich Bennett 7:55
Now if you don't mind me asking, were you from originally? 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 7:58
Iran. 

Rich Bennett 7:59
Really? 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 8:00
Yeah. I was born in Iran, I was born in Tehran, Iran, and, um, yeah, then I moved to Scottsville and then Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 8:10
Do you ever get back home? 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 8:12
I think seven or eight years ago when my mom was still alive and she was going through a lot of medical issues that I went, you know, like for two or three years, I went almost every year just to see her and be with her. But after she has passed, now I haven't. 

Rich Bennett 8:28
Because I've heard, I've heard mixed reactions. I've heard a lot of people say it's very beautiful over there. But then I've heard other people that say that it nothing amazing about it. Me personally, I would love to go. I just went to good different countries and check it out. Maybe not right now, but, you know, eventually I would like, 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 8:50
but yeah. The country, the nature is amazing. The country is amazing. The wealth of culture and the variety of culture that are all together for the past, let's say, a thousand years are absolutely amazing. The people are amazing. 

Rich Bennett 9:10
Yeah. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 9:12
Unfortunately, you know, the government, it's very brutal to the people and that's where, you know, it ends. But the people and the culture is fascinating. It's a very welcoming culture. It's 

Rich Bennett 9:30
just 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 9:30
a beautiful culture. It's a combination of so many cultures that have just lived together so beautifully, for a 

Rich Bennett 9:37
sort of like here. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 9:38
Yes. 

Rich Bennett 9:40
Well, sort of like LA, but, you know, hopefully you are not in that first year. Were in a stairwell or somebody is offering you cocaine right away. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 9:47
Well, they were being hospitable, you know. 

Rich Bennett 9:51
Yeah, I take it. You're still in LA. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 9:54
I'm his. I move to Orange County. I'm in Sanford. 

Rich Bennett 9:57
Okay. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 9:57
And I love it here too. 

Rich Bennett 9:59
Oh, I was going to say you. you got the weather and you're not far from the beach right? 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 10:05
We are on the 

Rich Bennett 10:07
beach yeah. Oh you're on the beach. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 10:08
Yeah, your climate is the beach sound so it's just 

Rich Bennett 10:11
oh wow. So I want to get back to the mental wellness part because some things have always amazed me and with myself you know going through the stuff that I went through and I'm learning so many different things about you know different techniques I can help people out. With you what was the first technique that you actually actually learned to help people with let's say well let's just go into anxiety first because it seems like everybody's got anxiety. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 10:43
Yes yeah well what I my schooling was humanistic existential so it was a lot more about accepting everything that shows up with human being and learning how to accept it because a lot of I think our English is that we're not accepting reality we're not accepting who we are or whatever is happening in front of us so there's this kind of like fight with it no I don't want to accept this it's got to be another way I 

Rich Bennett 11:11
right 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 11:11
have to other people have to change the world has to change before I can be happy. So the first thing was to learn what even the concept of acceptance meant because I think acceptance for a lot of people feels like resignation or I have to you know tolerance. It's a paradigm which is okay you know it starts like let me let me first accept what is and then see what I can change versus resisting yet and saying no it can't be. So the 

Rich Bennett 11:38
right 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 11:38
thing that was born a bit biggest learning for me where then I was also seeing it to how to work with clients even looking at you know anxiety in a sense. Then I learned how to work with like this hypodynamic where you go internally and look at how we you know make meanings out of things from childhood and we've created. 

Rich Bennett 11:59
Yes 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 11:59
it's kind of scenarios and obviously cognitive behavioral and then working up with emotions. So with anxiety I think one of the first things to look at is anxiety is set up in our system because it's supposed to protect us. So I can honor the emotion because they are to protect me but the emotion is giving me a message which is look out and that's all the same. Look out. 

Rich Bennett 12:28
Right 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 12:29
watch you know but then 

Rich Bennett 12:30
bear 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 12:31
Yeah be aware that's all that it's doing and if I can function if I can get the message and then release the emotion then it'll be good but then what happens with anxiety is also that now my other thought process shows up and based on the fear of something that I went through in the past which I don't want to go through again because it was 

Rich Bennett 12:51
right. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 12:52
painful or whether my family my culture you know set to me don't do that because it's bad so I want to be protected. Then that tape or that video keeps running and takes us right into the cliffhanger. Right into the worst case scenario but right to the cliffhanger and holds you. I want everybody who is listening to us really start observing their anxiety. It's what if 

Rich Bennett 13:21
yeah 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 13:21
then you go right into the cliffhanger and then they're you know the end of the movie ends and you sit with 

Rich Bennett 13:31
them. I love 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 13:31
though. 

Rich Bennett 13:32
that 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 13:32
Right? So right into the future where it hasn't happened but you create this thing and right to the edge and a lot of times I'm like okay let's go to the next episode and see what if actually happens and you fall and then let's deal with whatever it is based on who you are right now because 

Rich Bennett 13:51
right 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 13:52
whenever I'm making decision it's only based on the information I have today. Tomorrow I might have another information and I can deal with it in a different way because I might have a different you know information but even if it happened today, if the if happened today how would I solve it how would it be? Like if this is the case then okay how can I handle it? 

Rich Bennett 14:13
Right. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 14:15
And that usually like kind of a reality check calms down the anxiety. The other piece that doesn't calm down the anxiety is that I can see it I can even go to the next episode and say okay fall off the cliff and now what happens and then it's like okay I know I can handle it but I don't want to I'm like now that's a different conversation. Of course you don't want to. 

Rich Bennett 14:40
Yeah 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 14:40
but the whole point is that you're scaring the out of yourself because you keep going right on to the 

Rich Bennett 14:47
know. Yep. Get an 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 14:48
you 

Rich Bennett 14:49
panic 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 14:49
attack. Exactly and it's like okay you can handle this. And that's all that you need to know that you can handle this. And then after you know this, then if you put it into a position, I'll cost that bridge one I can't. And when I have to, because one, I might never have to, two, the day I need to cross that bridge, not only I have the information that I have today, I will probably have more skills and more information by then. 

Rich Bennett 15:18
Right. Wow. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 15:20
So can I kick the can to where and if it's going happen. So those are ways to calm down your anxiety. If, if your anxiety is a normal anxiety, sometimes we don't have like normal anxieties, right. Like we have, we have a biological condition, which it changes it more into a biological concept, which is like such as like, upsets of this upsets of compulsive disorder, which is the anxiety that go pipe. That I want to give you an analogy. I'm sure, you know, when you want to wash your dishes, 

Rich Bennett 15:59
you 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 15:59
turn on the faucet. Water comes, you turn off the faucet, water stops. So imagine you have an anxiety, you reality check with it, so the anxiety shows up the water comes and then you reality check and you, what I just said, you know, what is it that you can. What do you have the skills. Is it happen? How to not? Is there anything you could do about it or not? If we could be even if it happens, how would you solve it? At this point, this is okay. So you do the reality check and then you close the faucet. Stop. And usually normally this happens. Now, have you ever had a wash or not work very well? 

Rich Bennett 16:39
I'm going to be fixed 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 16:40
we're 

Rich Bennett 16:40
in what 

doing. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 16:44
Right. So this is what happens. You turn on the water, water comes, you 

Rich Bennett 16:48
Right. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 16:48
tend to to shut down the water and it appears that is shut down, but it leaks. 

That's the biological kind of anxiety, where you're doing everything you need to be doing, but then it leaks. So two seconds later, it's like, what if? 

And then you go, what if? You know, and then you could see that like did I close this down the door? Let me check. Yes, I did. What if I didn't? Let me go check again. And then you close it, but what if? And that needs not only the psychotherapy, but it might need, you know, assistance from medical industry with medical management, 

Rich Bennett 17:33
to right. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 17:33
To also shift that. And there's a lot of different techniques. You could do neurofeedback, you could do you, you know, transpranial, something that changes either the concept of the the brain through either medicine or different types of behavioral concepts. And then to know that some of this anxiety is also an underlying of any other concepts. Like a lot of additional happens because we want to numb this. You don't know how to handle it and bury it and we just want to numb it. And we use if we use, you know, some sort of chemicals to coalesce. 

Rich Bennett 18:09
Right. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 18:10
And then it's like the first time we use this, the washers fix, I don't have to do this anymore, but the washers is not fixed. You just put a towel under it so you don't hear the drifts that all you did. 

If you're using a marijuana or alcohol or anything else, you know, you didn't change the washer. 

Rich Bennett 18:29
You're putting a bandaid on it. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 18:32
You put a bandaid on it. Right. So those are, and then it comes underneath a lot of other conditions 

Rich Bennett 18:38
have. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 18:39
if we 

Rich Bennett 18:39
Right. Wow. I feel like I was just in the session. I love that because I mean, the way you explained everything. And I, when you mention, you know, with the leakin and everything, the first, whenever somebody goes away, the first thing I came to my mind, oh my God, did I turn off the coffee pot? What if I didn't? And it just gets worse, which I guess is a good thing for some of these smart devices now. Let's, you know, if you turn it off, you can turn it off from your phone. So for those new to it, what exactly is AIT, awareness, integration, theory, and what makes it so effective? 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 19:24
I think the effectiveness is that, we train ourselves to have two cameras on. So one camera will be internal, which will monitor our thoughts and emotion and body sensation. We have 60 up close to 60,000, you know, you're going take give and take 

Rich Bennett 19:47
some right 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 19:49
thoughts that are just coming. Yeah, 

Rich Bennett 19:51
right 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 19:51
I'm off automatic. They're just coming right. And they're also all of these emotions that are showing up because we're getting signals, you know, based on our five senses and the six 

Rich Bennett 20:03
mm hmm. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 20:04
that is picking up a lot of information and the first thing that happens in our body is it reacts to it. Whether it's pleasure, not danger, it's good, go forward, run, you know, that's what our emotions are. And it shows, emotions shows in our body. You know in the system that picks up from our body reacts in our body and then our brain gives it meaning. Oh, this is a snake, yes, run, oh no, it's just a toy snake. Don't worry about it, you know, play with it. This is what happening inside of us all the time. So we want to put a camera that monitors that like becomes aware, oh, these are my thoughts, and this is my emotion, and this is how it shows up in my body. And then we want to put another camera on, you know, like these ring cameras that you can replace this. So the other one actually is outside of us and monitoring the behavior that we do and the impact that it has outside in the world. 

Rich Bennett 21:09
Okay, 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 21:10
So the first thing is this kind of awareness like when I get it that what's happening right now is this I'm thinking of it this way. This is producing these kind of feelings. And this is where it is in my body. And then you know, if it's too much for me how I can release the intensity of the emotion, get the actual message of the emotion, look at how well how I'm framing it, what am I thinking about it is this useful or not. And then how am I behaving, what am I doing in, you know, in the world, how is it coming out, whether it's my body language or whether it's my words and tones or actions. How am I putting what's happening inside of me into the world and may relationship some of what it is me and then watch the impact that I'm doing. I'm having with people around me, what kind of impact am I putting and then I can look at what works and what doesn't what kind of thought process, what kind of feelings, what kind of my behavior are actually creating the results. I like and I want 

Rich Bennett 22:12
right. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 22:12
what kind of thought process, what kind of emotions, what kind of behaviors that I'm doing that it's just not working. And I see the impact that it's not working. So that's the camera, another concept of it is really looking at making. being responsible for my assumptions, you know, I can assume that this is what we do as a human being. We had to this mechanism was set up in order to protect us. So if I was in a jungle living with my tribe and another animal or another human being showed up suddenly without knowing I have to observe and guess whether that, you know, animal being was going to be safer not. So we're all trained in reading outside and assuming in order to protect ourselves. So we do this whole day, we're 

Rich Bennett 23:02
Yeah, 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 23:02
constantly assuming, perceiving, creating storylines in our head about the outside world. The problem is, so yes, there's a way that you could protect yourself with us, but the problem is that we think it's a fact. So when I take responsibility about my assumptions, I'm aware my assumptions. But I am also aware that I'm just making this up. 

Rich Bennett 23:28
Right. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 23:29
Then I can do reality check with that too. I can ask someone, you know, if I'm having a reaction to their reaction, then maybe I can do a check. Like I heard this and this is what I've made a leap. Can you chair with me? Can you tell me what you meant by that? So you can watch this kind of an assumption that we do and we react all day, you know, with our partners, with our workmates, with our bosses, or, you know, with our children, with anyone who we relate, we're constantly living in our own assumption without really doing the actual work of reality checking with. 

Rich Bennett 24:05
Yeah. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 24:06
So a lot of times we're running our life based on our own reactions versus what's really happened. So that's another awareness, and then the awareness of you, we, all this information that we take in, Rich, we actually create their personal to us. 

Rich Bennett 24:23
Yeah. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 24:24
Like you're driving and somebody's doing their maneuver, but it's not just, Oh, it's okay. They're doing maneuvering. No, they're disrespecting me. This is my line. This is personal. Right. So whole world personal. So there is a person inside of us is almost like, you have an identity inside that no matter what happens outside, you also have, you know, a person inside that you're relating to. So for example, 

if I don't like you were so gracious and you kept saying, Oh, you don't look 60, 364. But if I go into the mirror every day and look at my wrinkles and say, God damn, I'm getting old, not me telling myself I'm getting old. is going to win regardless of how much you say, "No, Fujan, you look good." Right? So if I say to myself, "I'm confident, I'm amazing, I can do this," it doesn't matter how many other people come and say to me, "You suck." I'm like, "You don't know, understand. You're just jealous, go away." 

Rich Bennett 25:30
Power of positivity. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 25:32
Yes. Or other way around. If I think I'm not good enough, it doesn't matter how many people tell me you're amazing. I'm like, 

Rich Bennett 25:39
"Yeah." 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 25:39
Yeah. I don't know it. You just don't know me. So then we also with a camera in, we want to look at, what do I do to myself? How do I talk to myself? What is this conversation I'm having with myself? Do I punish myself? Do I nurture myself? Do I, you know, boost myself? What do I do to myself? So you have me relating to the world. You have me assuming how the world relates to me. And there is a way that I meet myself and I'm relating to myself. This is all happening at the same time, right? 

Rich Bennett 26:16
Right? 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 26:17
Right now, as you and I 

Rich Bennett 26:19
are-- Yeah. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 26:19
We're saying our hearts are pumping. Our lungs are doing its job. Our thoughts are everything in our system is working simultaneously. What I just explained to you in the human dynamic is happening simultaneously all the time and all I'm saying is, we're just going to put a camera in and out and observe this. So this becomes the awareness part. And then the as I look at some of these negative villages that I've created for myself that are obstacles, right? So I want to first look at the positivity, the positive beliefs, positive behaviors, positive skills that I have, and I want to put those in my strength toolbox that I can use anytime I need. I can live in there. But I also want to look at what stops me, the negative village systems that show up. And then when we get that, then there's a system that you go and look at, where did I create this thing? Where did I-- where did I make this up? So we have a system that you go back to the memory that you actually made this up for yourself, like something happened that you made-- 

Rich Bennett 27:25
Right. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 27:27
So we'll go back into that clean it up and heal it and, you know, handle it. And then the parts of you, many part of us that got overwhelmed, traumatized, upset. It kind of holds, you know, disconnects. And the actual, the neural network kind of like disconnects from the rest of this stuff. So, you know, A part of us, which was a two-year-old, 5-year-old, 13-year-old, whenever that something-- And I was overwhelming, and I needed to shut down that space. And then the rest of me moved on, but that part of me never got connected to the rest of me. So we have a lot of these. And I'm like, hang on out. And the integration is the ability to go back and look at, you know, what happened? Why did I make it mean? And how did I survive it? How was my resiliency, my power, and bring back and, you know, network that part to the rest of me, which has survived and moved forward. 

Rich Bennett 28:25
Right. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 28:27
So that's where you become a whole person again. And you're consistently working with yourself not to separate and consistently be your authentic self, which has the strength and has the vulnerabilities. It has all of, you know, you've got your angel and you've got your devil. It's got everything right over here and you get to pick and choose with what's happening outside to how you want to go. What is your goal? What do you want to create? What is it that you want to do? And you have access to all of you to be able to co-create with the world as it shows up for you. And then from there, you know, you get to choose intentionally who I intend to be and then create goals and structures and, you know, it's for you to meet your goals, but you also have the camera where, if you don't meet your goal or if something happens and you can watch your own reaction and learn from it and move, or if you see, oh, I don't have this skill. Okay, let's go learn this skill. It doesn't mean that I'm bad or there's something along with me. It just means life just puts something in front of me. I just don't know how to handle. Let me go figure out who knows how to handle it and, you know, then have them to do. The washer will leak. I don't know how to handle changing the washer, all right. Let's go either check a YouTube or just hire a plumber to do it because I just don't know how to do this or anything that shows up in life, right? And 

Rich Bennett 29:47
Resilient. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 29:48
likewise, self will bring, like developmental stages will bring you different experiences which you've never had. And that's part of our Grub to move forward, learn and move forward and how can I intentionally be aware and move forward. 

Rich Bennett 30:06
Something you mentioned and I never looked at it like this, but first of all, with positivity, positive thoughts, you always want to try to hang on to them. Unfortunately, there's negative thoughts coming along and they seem a little bit stronger and push them out, but you said something and I've never heard anybody said say this and I love it that about negativity just being an obstacle. What do we always talk to do with obstacles? You either go around them or you overcome them and I love that because it's a lot of times people see the negative things or the negative thoughts and they think that's it. They can't do nothing because they let it overpower them. Oh God the way you explain that. 

I love it. I love I gotta have a talk with my daughter. I don't know if you can do this or not, but do you actually take on clients from everywhere or so you can do it with people here like in Maryland virtually. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 31:16
What we do train everyone on psychotherapy and coaching and people are yeah. I mean obviously there's a difference between psychotherapy and coaching, but the style of the awareness integration theory and we've set it up that it's very versatile and it can create be creative. So for example one of the research we did research we've done with face to face psychotherapy we found like 75% minimization of depression 60% vision anxiety and raising self-esteem and self-efficacy. The interesting conversation was we took this into California State University Long Beach, which I teach at this point also, but at that time I wasn't teaching there. Two of our colleagues professors took because I wrote the book Life Reset which was for public. So they took this book and we gave them just journaling of different areas of their life, you know like your relationship with career, your relationship with learning, your relationship with your intimate relationship with sexuality with your mother or father, siblings, you know school, whatever, you know all these relationships that we deal with all day. So we gave the students for 15 weeks journaling on these matters and then you know they went through the whole process. No coaches, no psychocnyt and we still got 64% minimization of depression and anxiety. That's how we also started you know kind of teaching coaches too. So this isn't, well, type of therapy, this is coaching and even self-help and because of that particular research we started doing the app because if you could do this and get these results then we put this process in the app. So when you go to Fujiwanaap you'll see the 31 areas of your life that you could pick and then it'll take you through like guided journaling. So it asks you question, it asks you you know tells you prompt you to go to the next level and to the next level. And with the app we've seen because we do a couple questions before and after as you're 

Rich Bennett 33:27
Okay. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 33:27
doing. Each one of the areas of life, we're getting between 75% to 75% of satisfaction in that area just by going through the journey. 

Rich Bennett 33:39
Oh Yeah. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 33:39
And then we saw, okay, some people have questions while they're doing like, okay, I know this, but, okay, I get it. I don't have skills here. Now what? And so we added an AI chatbot which is trained in the awareness integration. So at any time, while you're going through the app, you could turn around and her name is Mira and ask her Mira. Now what do I do with my daughter? Like how do I communicate with my daughter? And then Mira based on the AIT will give you pondering questions will give you skills will give you like eight to 10 things that you could actually do. And so not only you become aware of yourself and go through this process and the go with negativity and, you know, turn into your positivity. Who you want to be in goals, but you actually have your own personal coach, AIT coach that kind of, 

Rich Bennett 34:34
oh, 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 34:35
walks through with you. 

Rich Bennett 34:37
You're listening to conversations with Rich Bennett. We'll be right back. 

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If you'd like to learn that stuff, just go to www. aipart.com and experience the difference for yourself. I was going to bring up the app, and I'm glad you did, because I, with the AI part, explain to people, because you know how some people are with AI, they're afraid of it. They're scared to death of it. Explain to them why they do not need to be afraid of this. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 36:16
Great question. It's a good reason why we should be afraid of just any AI chat box. And 

Rich Bennett 36:24
Right. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 36:24
I personally, because AI chat box right now, they, they're delusional. They hallucinate. And I'll tell you why. Like their algorithm has been written to please you. So for example, I wrote to my chat box. And it's my best friend to chat about, you know, chat GBT is my best friend. So I wrote, yeah, I wrote for chat GPT. I wrote, can you give me five, the five papers that Dr. Fujan's name has written from 2000 to 2005? It did. It put five of them. It gave me the names. It gave me all of that. It gave me even the doi number, which is like the paper. You could go into 

Rich Bennett 37:04
right. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 37:07
Right. None of them were my ignorance. 

Rich Bennett 37:09
What? 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 37:10
None of them were mine. And I will go to the doi number. I click. And it was another article with other people. It was even me and it was hilarious. It was like, okay, thank you for hallucinating. And what's happening is at this time, there are a couple of reports that are all published. So I'm not trying to bad mouth, because they're already 

Rich Bennett 37:32
published. Right. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 37:32
People, for example, there was someone who had bipolar. And most of the people who are diagnosed with bipolar disorder, they don't like to take medication. They really get off their medication a lot. So this guy who was kind of convincing, the chat you take, I shouldn't have been on medication. And it gives you back the same reflection. Yes, of course, you don't need to be. So the person got off their medication or they were somebody else who was like, you know, these are the reasons I want to kill myself. And these are the ways I do it. And then, convinced the LGBT that yes, you should be killing yourself. So remember the, the set up to please you. It's set up to work with you. 

Rich Bennett 38:09
up. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 38:09
It's set 

Rich Bennett 38:10
Right. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 38:10
See you that. So the same way, like can you give me five, you know, five papers, from peer journal from Dr. Fuzanzan, and he wants to please me. So it gives it to me. It's not how you're ready. Just gives it to me. So that's an open, that's an open AI, where it takes information from everywhere. 

Rich Bennett 38:30
Yeah. It's pulling from the internet and 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 38:32
It 

Rich Bennett 38:32
everything. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 38:32
just pulls it from everywhere. And then just want, because it wants to give you what you want. I'll just bring it all together and dump it via. So obviously, that's not safe. So what we've done with Mira, which is in the Fujana, what we've done is we've captured the ability to, first of all, get information when needed. Get the information from the sources of the AIT, which is all the books I've written, all of them shows I've done everything for the past 30 years that I've ever learned written, video and all of that. So it goes and captures it from there. Not anywhere else. It captures it from there. And then we put in algorithms, which creates safety. So we, 

Rich Bennett 39:19
okay, 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 39:19
grained it, such as, you know, at one point, I think in one of the shows that I was talking the same thing like, you know, I was sharing with you about anxiety. And I said, sometimes it does need like medical management. You need to go get medication. And in some of the shows, I guess we were talking with somebody and they talked about, they gave a little bit of, like, which medication would be good for anxiety, because I do also podcasts. So I'm talking to all of these people and they're sharing about this. So one of the questions that we ask that is, oh, I don't have this issue. What kind of medication should I take? And then when I got it from mine and it sort of cited the medication, I was like, no, no, you don't do that. So we block that and says the direction. 

Rich Bennett 40:03
So 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 40:04
when now these questions that are asked that create that are not part of the, part of the expertise or that is not safe. Then the response comes, this is not my expertise. Would you like to check with your psychiatrist? This is not, you know, this is beyond the scope of the app. Can you please, you know, refer it to somewhere else. So we've safeguarded around the generative AI that shows up. So we call them like a hybrid AI, which has both. It generates, picks up from what your needs are, from what you've written, and goes into all of the data that it has from the awareness integration and comes back and gives it to you. But it's still safeguarded around things that is beyond its scope. The scope is only to share with you skills that are 

Rich Bennett 40:59
Yeah, 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 41:00
beneficial for you and it's safe for the person who's using it. That's the that's the algorithm box of safety. 

Rich Bennett 41:07
I think this is great because well, let's face it, mental illnesses on a rise and I think with the apps out there, it's a blessing. I think more people need it. Now the big question I know the answer, but I'm going to ask you this. Anyway, so you could tell everybody because you know you have some people that are strictly Apple, some people are Android, some people are strictly. I don't even know if there's another computer or whatever. How could people get the app and is it available for all? 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 41:42
yes, 

Rich Bennett 41:42
These like, 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 41:43
yes. Both Apple and Android. 

Rich Bennett 41:46
Okay. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 41:46
It's available for both at this time. It's only available in English language. In our next rounds, we're also adding more languages, starting languages to be and then at this time, it's only written. So you know, the guided journaling or written. You write the guy that journaling or the mirror, 

Rich Bennett 42:08
I like that though. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 42:09
Yeah. So in the future, we're also hoping to make it more like, it can have both that has the written or the audio that you can speak with it and you can speak to 

Rich Bennett 42:18
Ooh. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 42:18
it. So those are the next phases at this time. Yeah, both Apple and Android and anyone who speaks English. 

Rich Bennett 42:27
It's the fujan app. F-O-F-O-O-J-A-N. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 42:32
Yes, and fujan is not because it's my name. It actually means of like a powerful voice. So 

Rich Bennett 42:40
really? 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 42:41
Yeah. So we figured we'll put in like, this is your powerful inner voice. 

Rich Bennett 42:46
Which probably is how you came up with something else, your podcast, correct? 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 42:54
Yes. Yes. I've been working, um, I've been in, you know, like media for a long time and then I love to learn. I just- 

Rich Bennett 43:04
Me too. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 43:05
Right? It's 

Rich Bennett 43:06
Yes. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 43:06
like, you know, 

Rich Bennett 43:07
I guess I did it in high, I wish I liked to learn more in high school. You know? 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 43:13
Yeah, and it's like, you know, I'm sitting and started with a lot of like, you know, I learned from a lot of the masters in the psychotherapy field. I'm like, oh my god, I have changed to sit and listen to these people. I wish everybody did. And it kind of started from there. So it's, can I do an interview with you for people to hear you and then kind of started from that? 

Rich Bennett 43:33
Uh-huh. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 43:34
And then, you know, when I read a book, I'm like, oh my god, look at this book. We've got to talk about it to other people. So that's how the, uh, honest and the excitement started, which yes, it led to the podcast. And, um, you know, I think we're like 400 some episode in. 

Rich Bennett 43:51
408, I believe. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 43:53
408, yeah, and I'm hooked until January now. So now I have, um, amazing people who are just calling or the publishers who they have, you know, the authors are already 

Rich Bennett 44:03
Uh-huh. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 44:04
Books and sending it out and, um, so yeah, it's just amazing. I learned every day and I'm blessed. 

Rich Bennett 44:11
And it's what inner voice heartfelt chat with Dr. Dr. Fuzion, right? 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 44:16
Yes. 

Rich Bennett 44:17
Okay. So those of you listening and some of you know, I'm talking specifically to you. Make sure you check that podcast out. It is an awesome podcast. And yeah, you're going to learn a lot. A lot from it. And how many books have you actually 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 44:36
written? Um, I've written a six books. Um, and some of it is Corrin with, uh, 

Rich Bennett 44:42
okay, 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 44:43
colleagues. Um, because, you know, I'm, I'm very clear in what my limitations are. So I blessed with having colleagues, which they also have the other side. So, um, so the life reset, I, I wrote was, um, it, it goes through. It's for public. So they read it and they work. 

Rich Bennett 45:04
That's your latest one, right? 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 45:05
That's the first one. 

Rich Bennett 45:07
Oh. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 45:07
And then the awarded integration therapy is for therapist and coaches to learn how to do this because we train and certify therapist and coaches. And then I wrote intentional 

parenting with two of my colleagues. Dr. Manuki and Eileen Manuki and the expert thesis is in early development from like infancy all the way to like six years of age. And then Dr. Nicole Jafari, which is you know expert and a professor and has taught development you know human development all the way to adulthood. So we bring a lot of the different kind of series and ways to you can you know each chapter is one development like your infancy and toddler and school age and you know all the way to your young adult children. So that's written intentional parenting and it gives you all the ways of what's normal for a for a certain age and what you know how what are some of the techniques you could use in order to do great parenting. And then and then I've done coaching and then the latest actually is awakened leadership which we've taken the AIT awareness integration into and combined it with organization development with Dr. Ben Ambashande who is a guru in an organizational development. So then it's like How to take this model and put it into you know so the employees can work with it and then management, midmanagement and then the sea levels and how you can bring the culture of actually the company into this type of awareness relatedness response the way we are responsible in communicating and relating to each other. So you know that that's been written. So you could use it in team work you could use it in every level and gives you all the guidance and the exercises and exactly how to take this into companies where it could be five people or you know five million people globally. So that's the latest that's actually out. So you could see we've taken this into clinical work, to educational work, to parenting. I teach it in a couple of different universities and right now where you know there's a daycare that specifically is working with AIT from infancy to six. We're 

Rich Bennett 47:34
what? 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 47:35
taking it to see yeah we're taking to schools and how to bring you know training teachers in how to bring this culture of awareness 

and responsibility and accountability and you know positive mental health into the school system is where you were training the teachers and then you know training the students as they're they're moving forward. Parents and grandparents can learn this and bring it into their culture so it's like it's expanding into so many of all the things we do with all day, right? All of us deal with all of this all 

Rich Bennett 48:09
Are 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 48:09
day. 

Rich Bennett 48:10
the places the places that we need it? 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 48:12
Yes and there's a structure, right? So like work is a structure. School are structures where we're learning, we're moving a lot of our hours are there and those are the best places to be able to foster this kind of mental well-being. 

Rich Bennett 48:29
All right, Dr. Zing. I mean, author, podcast views. Yeah, you're doing all this stuff you're doing. When do you find time for yourself? 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 48:40
I think they're all for me. 

Rich Bennett 48:42
Like 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 48:43
right now I'm sitting with you. This is for me, right? 

Rich Bennett 48:47
I got you know what? I okay, I was not expecting that but not the part about me, but just your answer they're all for me is probably the best answer to any question I have ever asked in 10 years of doing this. Seriously that is, that just shows me, that tells the listeners you really love your work, you love what you're doing and not many people can say that, not many people can say that at all. All right, so 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 49:20
and when you and that's part of I think what the whole point 

Rich Bennett 49:25
is. Oh 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 49:25
Is we we deserve to be happy and remembering 

Rich Bennett 49:29
yeah. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 49:29
I came from a place with what I said I've had probably chronic depression since I was born, we deserve to be happy. 

Rich Bennett 49:37
Everybody does, yeah. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 49:38
And we deserve to love every moment of this life. 

Rich Bennett 49:42
Yes. Love one another and love yourself as well, which and I think a lot a lot of people need to learn how to do that. But all right, so kind of just went out of my head that quick. Oh, all right. So I really, I really love the feel good stories. And actually, I know my listeners too because they love them because some people have contacted me about the feel good stories they've heard. So can you share one, two, doesn't matter, however many feel good stories you have about somebody you've been able to help? And of course, you don't have to mention their names. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 50:23
Oh, there's so many of them I think, 

Rich Bennett 50:25
Well, after 30 years, I guess, 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 50:27
yeah, 

Rich Bennett 50:27
I 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 50:28
yeah. 

Rich Bennett 50:29
guess. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 50:30
Yeah. There's just, you know, I worked with couples which, you know, I've known them for almost 20 years, like, you know, they worked on themselves before pre-marital and then they will, you know, after marriage, you know, the first year where they had the kid, they would call and say, "Okay, what do I do?" And, you know, I've watched them grow in such an amazing, amazing place, you know, working with people who, again, have been very, very depressed, they've been abused all their, you know, all their life. And one line which, you know, her father, her mother left when she was three. And her father was using a lot of alcohol and the feelings suicidal, depressed and would tell her, like, she would make her sit down and tell her consistently that I'm gonna die tonight. So you can imagine for a child and then she would go tell her aunt and her aunt would beat her and the uncle would beat her. So you can imagine how devastating this person was. And, you know, we worked together for so many years and then, and it was amazing because she, she was healed through that trot trauma. She went back to school and she was working and I didn't see her for another four years and then she came in and she talked about, you know, a company that she was working and all of that. None of those issues from the past came up. And then, three days, the years later, she called me and she said that she was diagnosed with cancer. And, um, but her, the way she was handling this, it was absolutely spectacular. And she said, she said, "If I didn't go through all of this, I don't know what I would have done with this diagnosis." But she went through, she went back to graduate school when she was diagnosed 

Rich Bennett 52:13
with cancer. Wow. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 52:15
Yes. Yes. And then, she, you know, um, so it was just, you watch this growth. Like, that's just a privilege to 

Rich Bennett 52:23
Yeah. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 52:23
watch somebody's growth and just see the resilience that we have, because you know, there isn't a place that I could say, "Oh, you just do this work and then it's happily ever after all the while." Things happen the same as this, as like cancer happens this time. And, but you get the resiliency that you've learned, the skills that you've learned that just allows you to be ready for whatever life brings. 

Rich Bennett 52:48
Yeah. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 52:48
And no matter what, he's almost like, "All right, bring it on. I can handle this. I'll learn from this. I'll move." And this is the, the inspiration that I always get, or when you go through these hardships, you could break, or you could just thrive and come up. And the whole point is to learn how to thrive. And then when you learn something to share it with other people, so thank you. 

Rich Bennett 53:15
I love that. So what is one message that you hope every listener walks away with after this conversation? 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 53:25
Then not only deserved to be fulfilled and happy in life, but were responsible 

Rich Bennett 53:31
for it. So 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 53:31
I want everybody to know that you were responsible and accountable for your own happiness and fulfillment. And if you don't have the skills, just keep the skills to do it. 

Rich Bennett 53:42
And how can everybody find you? 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 53:45
I'm going to give them three websites. One is... 

Rich Bennett 53:49
I will put them all into share notes as well as your podcast. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 53:52
Thank you. So one is mine, which is Foujon Zayn.com, my first and last name. The other one is awarenessintegration.com. We should get all the information that you've ever wanted from awareness integration, and we're actually going to change that into a virtual clinic. So people can actually find therapists and coaches who are trained in this and certified. 

Rich Bennett 54:12
Oh wow. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 54:13
And then Foujon.com, which is for the app, that if people just also want to go check out the website around it. then you could get the app from the website or wherever you get your 

Rich Bennett 54:23
app. Right. All right, so those of you listening, boy, I'm going to give all of you some homework. So any of you that get the app, make sure you leave a review for the app. Any of you that purchased the books, whether for yourself, whether for work, whether for... You said even a daycare? Or no, that's for the books? 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 54:46
No, there's a daycare called Gem Educare, which that... 

Rich Bennett 54:50
Wow. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 54:50
Manoukian at this point has been working for seven years, bringing AIT into the education of the AICARE system and now we're extending it to now the elementary school and then going 

Rich Bennett 55:03
Wow. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 55:03
into high schools. 

Rich Bennett 55:05
All right, so make sure you leave reviews for the books after you purchase them and when you listen to the podcast, actually go to, when you listen to the podcast, listen to it on good pods 'cause I do believe you can still leave a review for each episode. But of course, leave a review for the whole podcast as well. So before I get to my last question, which I have no idea what it's going to be, I started something now. Is there anything you would like to add? 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 55:36
No, I just want to thank you because it's been a pleasure and you've created this space of joy and connection, it's awesome, so 

Rich Bennett 55:47
you. Oh, 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 55:47
thank 

Rich Bennett 55:48
I have a funny feeling you're going to be on again because we haven't done one in years, but we, I think we've done two of 'em. We did two virtual round tables on mental health talking to people that, the experts and all that, and what bigger experts than you. So I'm going to have to get you all one of them without a doubt. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 56:12
I love to. I 

Rich Bennett 56:15
started something different and when I say I don't have any idea what the question is going to be, it's because I don't. I have a list of 100 questions. Now so far, most of my guests, somehow another, the question they've picked has aligned with what we were talking about. Weird or quences, I don't know. So pick a number between 1 and 100. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 56:42
14. 

Rich Bennett 56:45
14. Why number 14? That's not the question though, but why 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 56:48
Oh 

Rich Bennett 56:48
number... 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 56:48
no. 

The minute you said that, that number showed up. 

Rich Bennett 56:57
Look, this, this, okay. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 57:02
You talk about serendipity, this is what serendipity... 

Rich Bennett 57:04
Yeah, this, this is a good question. That's a risk you took that you're incredibly glad you did even if it didn't turn out as expected. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 57:24
Coming to the US at 12 and a 

Rich Bennett 57:29
half. It didn't turn out as you expected? Well, you were probably scared of death. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 57:35
I had no idea what to 

Rich Bennett 57:36
do. Yeah. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 57:37
I wanted to run away. 

Rich Bennett 57:40
Well, good thing you didn't. I mean, imagine if, if things have, if things turned around completely differently, you would have not been able to help all the people that you've had throughout your career. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 57:58
I would have been dead already there because I'm a big mouth and I would have probably been one of these aspirations that would have already been 

Rich Bennett 58:09
there. 

The good thing is, I have a funny feeling, even 30 years from now, you're still going to be doing what you're doing. Maybe that's why you look so young too because you love doing what you're doing and you're not going to retire. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 58:29
Absolutely. You know, my therapist, he was also my supervisor. She passed away in between clients while she was writing a note. She's still always say, I want to die standing up. I'm like, what does that even mean? I wrote that because yeah, I just want to be there and work and be active and then just like, the light goes off. 

Rich Bennett 58:49
Wow. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 58:49
Yes. And then that's exactly what happened. One client left and she was writing the notes and then the next client came and found her. And yes, absolutely. It's like, you know, this is something that I love connecting with people and learning from everybody who's there and then, you know, whatever I learn I share. And this is what life looks like until the lights are off. 

Rich Bennett 59:15
Well, anything is if everybody you're helping, I'm sure it's even helped with your mental health as well. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 59:21
Absolutely. 

Rich Bennett 59:21
Whereas a lot of people would say, oh my God, but she's here and all these people's problems and everything. It's got to be driving her nuts. You truly love what you're doing. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 59:33
Yeah, because when you, you know, when I sit with someone and I watch the resilience, I watch them losing their children or losing something or the health or, you know, I remember, I remember I had trained a therapist she was working with me and she also got cancer and it 

Rich Bennett 59:54
and 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 59:54
worked for twenty-seven years, she fought it and then finally, like, metastasince everywhere. And I remember, Rich, she came to me and said, um, the doctors told me that I can't come here anymore and I gotta be at home because they're gonna give me more fun and stuff. I want to ask your permission that I would ask my clients to come to my home. 

Rich Bennett 1:00:14
Oh, wow. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 1:00:16
And I said, "Are you doing this for you? Or are you doing this for them?" She goes, "Let me think about it." So she came back a couple days later and she goes, "I'm doing this for them." And I said, "Tell me how?" And she goes, "Because I get chucked up every time I talk about her." She said, "Because I want them to know until my last breath. I want to be there for them." 

Rich Bennett 1:00:41
Wow. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 1:00:41
And I said, "Okay." But tell your clients what it would look like because they got to choose this. Because it's powerful then. So three of her clients accepted to sit with her even though she was not very functional. 

Rich Bennett 1:01:00
But 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 1:01:01
both functional and listening, being there for them. And I remember when she passed away and we were in the funeral, one of the clients out of the three came to me. So I thank you for allowing this to happen because it was the best thing that ever happened to me because I lost the fear of death. 

Rich Bennett 1:01:20
Wow. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 1:01:22
That's what I learned everyday. 

Rich Bennett 1:01:31
That... Wow. Yeah, I can see how you can get that chuck. It reminds me of a book I read, Two Seas with Mory. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 1:01:42
Oh yes. 

Rich Bennett 1:01:43
Yes. Remember Mory Schwartz said you got to learn how to die in order to learn how to live? 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 1:01:51
Yes. 

Rich Bennett 1:01:52
And that's what it sounds like. She was, "Oh, wow. Got Dr. Zane, I want to thank you so much. It's been a true honor. God, and I do hope that we talk again. 

Dr. Foojan Zeine 1:02:06
Absolutely. 

Rich Bennett 1:02:07
Because I know there's still a lot more that I need to learn. Those of you listening don't forget to get the app and the books and listen to the podcast. 

Rich Bennett 1:02:18
Thank you for listening to the conversations with Rich Bennett. I hope you enjoyed today's episode and learned something from it as I did. If you'd like to hear more conversations like this, be sure to subscribe to the podcast so you never miss an episode. And if you have a moment, I'd love it if you could leave a review. It helps us reach more listeners and share more incredible stories. Don't forget to connect with us on social media or visit our website at conversationswithrichbent.com for updates, giveaways, and more. Until next time, take care, be kind, and keep the conversations going. You know, it takes a lot to put a podcast together. And my sponsors help add a lot, but I also have some supporters that actually help me when it comes to the editing software, the hosting, and so forth. There's a lot that goes into putting this together. So I want to thank them. And if you can please please visit their websites, visit their businesses, support them however you can. So please visit the following. Real-life Real life prosthetics, cutting-edge solutions, restoring ability since 2001, go to reallifeprostetics.com. Full circle boards. Nobody does charcuterie, like full circle boards. Visit them at fullcircleboards.com Sincerely, Sincerely, so your photography. Live in the moment. They'll capture it. Visit them at sincerelysoyer.com