October To-Do Lists
October delivers bounty and beauty as the last of the fruit and vegetables are harvested, and pumpkins become abundant and found on so many front entrances. Corn mazes and pumpkin spice lattés are a thing!
Thanksgiving beginning the month and Halloween closing it out highlight our calendars. Winter clothes are unpacked. Summer tires are exchanged for snow tires (just in case). Flower gardens are cleaned out and shut down for the winter. Spring bulbs are planted.
It can be a celebratory month for some and a melancholy month for others. Here are a couple of lists for those who want to focus on the positives of the autumn month:
Ten Things to Help You Show Gratitude in this Month of Thanksgiving:
- Start the month by making a list of 31 things you are grateful for in your life.
- Invite new friends over for a turkey dinner. Do this separate from your family Thanksgiving tradition.
- Start your meals by saying aloud what you are grateful for today.
- Go through your winter clothing and donate some good condition winter items to a thrift store or homeless shelter. Why not include a few new pairs of socks?
- Drop off canned goods to a food bank in your area.
- Create your own set of seasonal thank you cards by using photographs you have taken. Autumn colours make pretty cards.
- Send these cards to people who make a difference in your life.
- Make a pumpkin pie or cheesecake and invite someone special to enjoy it with you.
- Say thank you to your neighbours for something they have done to enhance your ’hood.
- Look in the mirror and thank yourself for all that you are and can be.
Ten Ways to Celebrate Halloween:
- Make sure your Will is up to date.
- Put a pumpkin on your front step (or a pumpkin decoration on your door).
- If you get trick-or-treaters at your home, find a suitable costume to wear when you open the door.
- Write your own obit – I teach a course on this and call it “Be Your Own Rockstar.” Use that thought as you write yours, so others don’t overlook the good things you want to be remembered for. You can find instructions on how to do that in my book listed at the bottom of this column.
- If you haven’t already, read up on Mexico’s Day of the Dead Celebrations. The Aztec people believed in celebrating, not mourning, the lives of those who had passed.
- Take 15 minutes every day in October to jot down thoughts that can go into the memoire you will write one day.
- Host a Halloween costume party. Play games.
- Visit a corn maze. Take some little ones with you.
- Ask a friend to suggest a cozy (or spooky) October read.
- Make pumpkin soup.
And if none of those interest you, here are some bonus ideas: Sip apple cider, go apple picking, get pumpkins and gourds from your local market and make a fall display for your table or front door. Go to a football game. Take a hike in nature and snap lots of photographs. Roast pumpkin seeds.
Being in a positive frame of mind as we move from summer days into winter nights can make all the difference to your mental and physical health.
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Laurie Mueller, M.Ed is retired and living in Victoria with her husband, Helmuth. She recently published The Ultimate Guide on What to Do When Someone You Love Dies, available on Amazon. More about Laurie can be found at www.lauriemconsulting.com or on Facebook.