Do you know of a woman that, despite not-so-great circumstances, keeps it positive and looks at the world through a lens of hope, faith, and overall positivity?  She has confidence, stays calm, and knows her purpose in life? Her light and energy are contagious and you just want to soak it all in?

Then, you have come in contact with someone living life with abundance, which I define as an “at easeness” or  “flow”—where who they are and what they do align and create possibility, confidence, and juiciness.

If you think about it in terms of a car, their abundance tanks are fueled by premium gas and are close to full, if not completely full.

Women living in abundance make it seem easy, but they achieve abundance because they make abundance a non-negotiable in their lives; they commit to it and work on their abundance every day.

If you are looking to increase the levels of abundance in your “abundance tank,” consider the following:

1. Know what makes you happy and schedule to do it.

Your most fulfilled friends tend to be the ones that are the most engaged— always involved in something. And it does not have to be Mother Teresa worthy either! They are at Starbucks reading, traveling in some nation’s backyard; they are at dinner; they are at the gym with a personal trainer.

To be juicier, you have to do the same. Right now, think about five things that you have dreamed of doing; schedule to do the first on the list within 24 hours.

2. Pay attention to the signs of a ½ and ¼ abundance tank and respond accordingly:

Signs that you are running low on abundance are very clear once you know what to look and listen out for. When we are not working with a full tank, you may find yourself doing a lot of the following:

a. Siphoning the abundance of others: You may become demanding, needy, gossipy, and to put it lightly, far from a pleasure to be around. What you will see is that your friends with full tanks will pull away from you to preserve their limited amount.  And those with just as little, if not less than you, will create a low-vibration allegiance, where you all stuff your free time complaining, hating, and languishing.

b. Reckless Self-Talk and Doubt:  The gremlins of self-doubt, exaggeration, and paralysis begin to drown out your steady, calm voice of abundance. You begin to listen to these voices that tell you that your pursuit of happiness, in whatever form it is, is not for you because you are too young, fat, old, worthy, dumb, black, or inexperienced, etc.

c. You spend on things that you don’t need or want: Impulse spending and chronic shopping are signs that you are trying to fill a void. Shopping also provides a momentary sense of power and control. It provides fleeting purpose and calm, which if not replaced with meaningful acts of abundance, creates serious consequences, both emotional and financial.

d. You may even mindlessly eat to keep you superficially engaged. Like shopping without a reason, mindless eating provides temporary satisfaction. But at the bottom of this type of eating, there is a desire for distraction and escape.

3.  Commit to keeping your abundance tank at least ¾ full at all times.

As they say, prevention is better than cure; the same principle applies when you are being deliberate about keeping your abundance tank full.

a. Stay Engaged. Keep Yourself engaged in at least two activities that you love all of the time: one of the easiest ways to ensure engagement is to hang out with cool, abundant people.

 b. Devise some strategies to handle to the 50 percenters in your life. This may be hard if you really care for the 50%er in your life. But there is no point in both of your living below capacity. Ask them to engage in some self-reflection to uncover what they enjoy doing and point them in the direction of a resource. If they are not solution-oriented at this point in their lives, it is okay to limit communication with them. If you had lunch often, be prepared to be busy; send out texts instead of phone calls of encouragement; don’t meet them alone, bring your more abundant friends.

Frugalistas: How will you ensure that your abundance tank stays full? 

[info_box type=”alert_box”]If you’re waiting for a sign that it’s time to make a change, consider this it. Money Therapy may be just what you need to break through your financial blocks and release your money guilt and shame.   [/info_box]