Confidence and Self Esteem Therapy Edgbaston Birmingham

10/02/2025

Insomnia and Sleep Issues
Lying awake at night, staring at the ceiling, feeling wired but exhausted?
If that sounds familiar , there’s a good chance your cortisol levels are out of control.
And here’s the deal: high cortisol is more than just a bad night’s sleep—it’s a serious roadblock to your health, energy, and your ability to hit the flow state.
Cortisol is your body’s built-in alarm system.
It’s meant to help you handle stress, but when it sticks around too long—especially at night—it can wreak havoc on your sleep.
Studies show that elevated evening cortisol is one of the biggest culprits behind tossing and turning, disrupted sleep cycles, and that feeling of being “tired but wired”.
When your cortisol levels are too high in the evening, your body stays in a state of alertness, making it nearly impossible to relax and fall asleep.
And poor sleep doesn’t just affect your mood—it drags down your entire health, energy, and performance.
The Cost of High Cortisol:
1. Disrupted Sleep
High cortisol messes with your body’s natural circadian rhythm, making it harder to fall asleep and stay asleep. You wake up feeling drained, no matter how long you’ve been in bed.
2. Increased Stress and Anxiety
Cortisol is linked to heightened stress responses. If your cortisol stays high, your body is constantly in “fight-or-flight” mode, which leads to more stress, anxiety, and mental fog during the day.
3. Blocked Flow State
Cortisol doesn’t just affect your sleep—it blocks your ability to enter the flow state. The flow state is where you’re fully focused and performing at your best, but high cortisol keeps your brain stuck in overdrive, making it impossible to focus deeply or think creatively.
Now, imagine what happens when you cut evening cortisol by 25%.
You’re not just lowering your stress—you’re giving your body the green light to relax, sleep deeply, and wake up energized.
Lowering cortisol improves your sleep quality, reduces anxiety, and opens the door for you to finally access the flow state.
When cortisol comes down:
1. Deep, Restorative Sleep
Lower cortisol allows your body to enter its natural rest-and-recover mode, improving sleep quality and helping you wake up refreshed and ready to take on the day.
2. Reduced Anxiety, More Clarity
When your cortisol levels are balanced, you’ll notice less anxiety, better mental clarity, and an increased sense of calm. This sets you up for a more productive, focused day.
3. More Consistent Flow State
With cortisol in check, your mind and body can work together, making it easier to slip into the flow state—where creativity, focus, and high performance come effortlessly.
You don’t have to spend another night staring at the ceiling, trapped in a cycle of poor sleep and high stress.
Lowering your evening cortisol naturally is possible, and it’s the key to better sleep, more energy, and consistent access to the flow state.
Call Stuart - 07825 599340 to discuss your insomnia issue in more detail
Email - stuart .co.uk
https://hypnotherapy4freedom.co.uk/.../hypnotherapy-for...
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Stuart Downing is a trusted hypnotherapist helping clients overcome their issues across the UK and worldwide. Read his reviews here.

25/01/2025

When We Don’t Love Ourselves, We Can’t Be Loved By Someone Else
When we don’t love and accept ourselves fully, we can’t ever have a great relationship or a happy life.

Our partner may whisper, “I love you so much” and we won’t believe them. We’ll always be looking for evidence that they are secretly losing interest.

Did they call us when they said they would? (If they didn’t, it’s because they don’t love us.)

Did they initiate s*x, or cuddle like they used to, or hold our hands when we walked down the street? (They are losing interest. They’ve met someone else. I’m less desirable than I was ten years ago.)

We can’t tell them our secret feelings or fears, because it will push them away.

We feel like we “aren’t good enough” to date our crush, or we settle for someone who is “safe” or “fine” but who doesn’t make our heart leap with joy.

We don’t trust our partners (they aren’t telling the truth). We think they are cheating (where was she last night?)

We carry around the pain of never feeling good enough to have the kind of love other people experience. We doubt ourselves; we doubt our partners; we doubt love.

We let challenges demoralize and deflate us, and it’s not long before we realize we’re a much smaller version of ourselves. We won’t ask for a raise; we’ll stay in dead-end jobs.

We’ll lose weight and feel fatter than ever. We give up on our health, thinking it’s too hard or takes too much effort.

We’ll look for quick fixes to make ourselves feel better: a new haircut, a one night stand, a bottle of bourbon, a brownie sundae.

But none of these fixes fix us at all. They leave us feeling lonelier, emptier, sadder.

And we will remain that way until we stop looking for other people to give us the love and care we yearn for and deserve.

After all, why would someone else love us, if we don’t think we are worthy?
Call Stuart -07825 599340
stuart@hypnotherapy4freedom.com

I’m an expert hypnotherapist offering clinical hypnotherapy & online hypnosis across the UK from London to Birmingham, and internationally.

23/06/2024

83.5K likes, 1214 comments. “Denzel”

03/12/2023

02/12/2023

25/11/2023

When we met, you knew what kind of person I was..I was clear about my intentions.
I don’t play games nor tolerate players..I leave that amusement for those chasing shallow feelings and lackluster dreams.
No, I told you that I needed more, I craved the truth and I deserved the best.
If you’re not willing to step up and have a mature relationship, then now is the time to set the record straight.
I’m not settling for being an option, and I’m never going to be your “maybe.”
If you don’t know what you want or if you have to stop and think, then I’m not the one for you.
I play for keeps and I wear my heart on my sleeve- anything less than soul stirring, heart sparking passion doesn’t interest me..
I’ve kissed enough frogs to know that I’m holding out for the one who can make me feel like nothing I’ve ever known.
Maybe I’m a dreamer, but I want the kisses that bring forth butterflies, the touch that gives me chills, the look that singes my soul.
I don’t know if you’re up to the task and can handle my heat, but if you’re not willing to face the fire of my passion, then let’s just part ways now.
I’m never going to chase you, beg for your attention or be anything less than a priority.
I realize that you may think I’m a handful, too much or demanding, but I know my worth..that’s never changing.
I’m showing you who I am and you’ll always know where you stand with me..
So, I’m fiery, I’m strong willed and I’m one of a kind, and if you didn’t know that by now, start paying attention.
I’m not waiting around for you to figure it out, think about things or play the field, love isn’t a competition and I’m not a prize for your possession.
I’m real, I’m authentic and you’ll never meet another person like me.
Maybe you’re not ready, maybe you’re working things out or just don’t know what you want..and I’m good with that, everyone has their own path..
Just don’t expect me to be waiting for you at the end of the road, hoping you’ll let me love you.
I know I built high walls around my heart and I don’t just let anyone in..
But this is who I am and how I feel, take it or leave it.
Are you stepping up to try to win my heart or walking away?
I don’t need to be fixed or saved, I just want to be loved..just as I am.
I deserve that,
Now and always.
|ravenwolf

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24/11/2023

🙌🏼

05/04/2023

Hypnotherapy successfully treating IBS symptoms
Online appointments available
www.hypnotherapy4freedom.co.uk
Call Stuart - 07825 599340
Email stuart@stuartdowning.co.uk

Hypnotherapist Antonios explains what IBS is and how hypnotherapy can help.

15/06/2022

Confidence coaching
Fear of failure can cripple your dreams and lead you into a life void of success. It ranks as the number one reason why people don’t fulfil their dreams and goals, preventing us from fully using our abilities, taking risks, building self-confidence and reaching our full potential. It is often what prevents us from ending a bad relationship, quitting a job we don’t enjoy, or even taking up a new hobby that would bring joy into our lives.
How can coaching help you overcome the fear of failure and gain self-confidence?
A qualified life coach can help you beat the fear of failure for good and reach the level of self-confidence you need to ace your goals and cope healthily and constructively when you don’t get precisely the results you envisioned. Yes, you will still experience shortcomings – the whole point is to learn instead of allowing them to break your confidence.
Here are the main ways how coaching can be of help:
Coaching can help you identify the root cause
To overcome the fear of failure, you first have to understand your underlying issues. There is a reason why you feel this way and didn’t manage to become a self-assured adult. There is likely a situation or an experience from your past that led to a malfunctioning pattern of approaching new opportunities.
Perhaps your parents have always expected great things from you, and you don’t want to let them down. Maybe your boss has been giving you praise for your work recently, and now all those words are swirling around in your head. Perhaps your upbringing determined you to derive your self-worth from external validation.
Whatever it may be, the chances are that your anxiety won’t go away until you identify what’s truly behind it. A qualified life coach will take the time to help you figure out by yourself what impacted your self-confidence from your early years up to this day.
Coaching can help you redefine failure
Who hasn’t failed at something and then felt paralysing fear about doing it again? We often hear of individuals who will never try a specific activity ever again because they’ve already failed at it once. But coaching can help you look at your failure in a new way and give you the tools to begin making a change for the better.
In general, failure is looked on as a negative thing, but you can learn how to use it as an opportunity for growth through coaching. So many former gifted children base their confidence on their ability to succeed at everything on the first try. It’s essential to recognise the possibility of failure instead of denying it and avoiding the situation altogether, and a good life coach can help with this.
Coaching can help you build real, immutable self-confidence
Self-confidence is the recognition of our worth as a person, which should be independent of the outside world. To be self-confident means feeling positive about yourself and your own decision-making, especially when you’re facing challenges or setbacks.
People with high self-confidence don’t hesitate to try new things because they feel sure about their abilities, regardless of the result. A truly self-confident person can’t be brought down by failure but will instead view it as an opportunity.
Your coach isn’t going to force you into anything or judge you for any reason— they will guide and coach you toward self-improvement by helping you find the strength you need in yourself.
The bottom line
The higher the self-confidence, the lower the fear of failure. If you are looking to change your life for the best and feel like your fear of failure is holding you back from achieving those dreams and reaching your full potential, make sure that you contact a professional life coach. Don’t allow this crippling fear to haunt you anymore, let yourself be the one in control.
Online Zoom Coaching appointments available
Call Stuart - 07825 599340 to discuss in confidence ,how coaching can substantially improve your self confidence and address that negative - fear of failure .
stuart@stuartdowning.co.uk
https://stuartdowning.co.uk/services/life-coaching
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