Confidence After Unemployment

Hi, and welcome to recovering confidence. So no matter where you are on your journey of either finding a new job or changing your career in some way, recovering a sense of confidence is a really important part of that journey. Often our self-esteem can take a big knock along the way. And the temptation is to find, or to build almost an artificial sense of confidence. We almost sort of build it up in our mind rather than uncovering a sense of genuine, authentic confidence from within. So this exercise is very much about how do we sort of step out of all the thinking, even if it's thinking about confidence and instead learn how to find that place within ourself, that place of confidence, which is always with us, no matter what, even when there are thoughts of doubt in the mind, even then there is a place of confidence that we can find within ourself. As always, this exercise alone isn't going to necessarily change everything, but it can make a difference. It can be a start, and I'll recommend at the end a few different courses that you might like to check out to sort of really develop the familiarity with this quality of confidence. For now though, we're going to begin with our eyes open. You can do this exercise, either sitting up or lying down, whichever you find more comfortable. And with our eyes open with a soft focus, just aware of the space around us. We're gonna start with some big deep breaths, breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth. So as you breathe in, just aware of the lungs filling with air. And as you breathe out, just aware of the muscles in the body softening as you sink down into the seat or the floor beneath you. With the next out breath, you can just gently close the eyes. And just take a moment to be still, allow thoughts to come and go, allow any sensations to come and go. And as you sit there, as you lie there, just taking the opportunity to check in, notice how the body feels today. So I'm building up a picture of how the body feels, how the mind feels. We're better able to find that place beyond the thinking mind, that place of confidence. So to begin with, just noticing, is there a sense of heaviness or lightness in the body, the sense of restlessness or stillness. And as you become more aware of those sensations in the body, starting to become aware of the breath rising and falling sensation. You might feel it in the chest, diaphragm, the stomach. No need to breathe in any special way. And if you can't feel that movement, just gently placing your hand on your stomach. So as the body begins to settle, as the mind, the attention begins to settle on the breath, Just becoming more aware, the thoughts in the mind,...