10 very useful guides to building self-confidence

Anxiety, stress, and negativity can throw us emotionally off balance. But we can use our five senses to regain being calm, centered and 
feeling positive. We do this by creating "triggers" that remind us of our meditative practice and connect us to our desired state. For example, the sound of the ocean waves; the smell of vanilla scented candy; soothing music on our "go to" playerlist; soft lighting, lots of lush, green plants; the feel of our pet and so on. These triggers are based in on our five senses and help to recreate the condition we are in when engaging in our meditative, centering or calming practice.

The physical and emotional states we associate with theses senses need to be developed. It means we regulate our breathing with slower inhales and exhales, we maintain a certain posture that increases the flow of oxygen around our body and in turn, this increases our alpha brain waves that keep us alert and conscious, while relaxed. This also influences our hormone balance, especially between oxytocin and cortisol; oxytocin is a feel good hormone, connected and generous, while cortisol is the hormone that is associated with stress, and keep us on guard, suspicious of danger. We need both and being able to balance them in ways that make sense for us takes some mindfulness to develop.
the mindfulness takes practice to develop. Initially, we may need a prop to support us in increasing the atmosphere to center us. Constant practice in low low stress situation helps us develop our relaxation muscles so we can call on to it at more challenging moments
.
We will know we are doing well with our practice of staying centered by the quality of our interactions with others. The shift from tenseness and despair will happen when we are washed over with relaxation and hope. We will feel good during the interaction and when we reflect on it afterwards. The person with whom we were interacting may or may not give us  immediate feedback, but we can see the evidence of it in how our relationship develops.

Source: By Beth Fisher-yoshida Ph.D, from psychologytoday.com