Why hello my friends, welcome back to the seventh episode of ✨ Finding your Casual Magic ✨ DISCLAIMER: This episode discusses body insecurities and unhealthy relationships, listener discretion is advised. In this episode we’re talking about the magic that is self confidence!! At the time of recording I have never felt more confident in who I am. I wear what I want to wear and show up in the world in ways that feel extremely authentic. I feel like I have undergone so many challenges and looked at so many of my insecurities or things that I felt shame about and I just feel like the way that I now exist is authentically me and it feels so good. Of course, I still wake up often feeling insecure and of course I still have days where I enter old patterns of thinking but in general, if I zoom out and take a step back, I do feel, dare I say it, confident. To start the episode I invite you to do a short guided meditation to really enter this space with me and let whatever's happened in your day settle. I then share some facts on the topic of self confidence, sense of self & self esteem, looking at a few different definitions and some research about confidence in the field of cognitive psychology. I then launch into the episode focusing on how to walk through the world with confidence answering the questions: how do we build trust within ourselves to navigate challenge? How do we build a trust that we can show up authentically in spaces where maybe that feels scary to do so and to trust that everything will be okay to have this intrinsic safety within ourselves, even when the external world presents challenges to that? I close the episode with my ‘Casual Magic of the Week’ and then we hear from Aparajita who shares their Casual Magic followed by intention setting for the week ahead. Grab a journal or open your notes app and join me as we ask ourselves… What went well this week? What am I proud of? What is something that challenged me this week? Based on these reflections, choose a one word intention for your coming week. I just want to send you this reminder that no matter where you are in your self confidence journey, no matter how you might feel today, you are always enough. 💛 Links to research mentioned: What Self-Esteem Is and Is Not - Nathaniel Branden How to Measure Resilience With These 8 Scales The benefits of being present: Mindfulness and its role in psychological well-being Timestamps: 00:00 Introduction 02:42 Guided Meditation 06:05 Discussion about Self Esteem and Self Efficacy 08:49 Defining Self Confidence 11:07 Building Trust in Self Confidence 11:22 Personal Story of Low Self Worth 14:03 Experience with Insecurities and Fashion 16:07 Effect of Comments on Self Perception 17:18 Adopting Insecurities from Others 18:19 Influence of Body Confidence Movement 19:23 Concept of Body Neutrality 20:08 Use of Affirmations to Combat Insecurities 22:51 Introduction to belief systems 23:14 Embracing insecurities as self-trust 23:40 Misconceptions about confidence 24:03 Struggles with imposter syndrome 24:30 Validation and self-worth 25:29 First romantic relationship dynamics 27:06 Negative impact of a toxic relationship 28:22 Importance of support systems 29:03 Developing confidence during Covid 33:02 Tips for building confidence 38:12 Encouragement and self-belief 39:01 Applying confidence tools 39:18 Casual magic of the week 41:00 Setting intentions If you’d like to be featured as the Casual Magic of the week: 💌 Notice a moment of casual magic in your week. What was something beautiful in your daily life? A special moment or reflection? 💌  DM us a ~60 second voice message or video to @casualmagicpodcast on instagram or email it to [email protected] — feel free to include any pictures of your casual magic if you have any!! 💌  Start the voicenote by introducing yourself and where you’re from!! 💌  Tell us in your DM / em