Here in the Northern Hemisphere, we’re kicking into gear. it’s definitely fall.

While the weather might be wacky depending on where you live, it’s the cooler days and longer nights that signify the season. Harvest hardcore. For some of us, it’s leaves on the ground, hoodies and fire pits.

No matter where you are, there are lessons in this season.

Eat Sweets.

Fall harvest is allll about the sweet. Sweet potatoes, butternut squash, pumpkin, acorn squash, beets, you name it.

Even if you aren’t a pumpkin spice fanatic, you can take advantage of the natural sweets this season.

I’m not here to tell ya what you can and can’t eat. (We’ve both got our big girl panties on.) From butternut soup to super easy sweet potato and egg skillets to yummy curry, there are all sorts of bliss in eating Fall’s bounty.

Store up for scarcity. (but not too much.)

Squirrels collect acorns from oak trees, pears from the pear tree, walnuts, seeds, fruit; whatever they can get their cute little mitts on. They know winter’s on its way, so they hide and pile and bury for the season.

When things get lean, they raid their stash. If they can find it.

We can do the same thing. We tend to think in terms of money, and saving some cash is a good idea.

But you can take it further: books you want to read, movies you know by heart. Make a short list of the things you adore. When you’re feeling the winter blues, you’ll have a stash of smiles to lift you up.

Take it even further. Get dates with your Posse on the calendar. Plan to look at momentos on a cold midwinter night. Have something in your stash to nourish your soul.

A gentle warning, from one girl with a tendency to hoard things away. Don’t save everything for a yucky day. Just a few ideas that will help you feel really good when you need it.

Screw plans. Fail fast.

If there are no acorns, squirrels move on to the next food source. It might be another oak tree, or it could be something else entirely.

You don’t see them whining “No acorns? But I ALWAYS eat acorns from THIS tree! WTF am I gonna do now?”

They just go look for something else. In this case, it’s my fall decorations.

We don’t have to keep doing something that isn’t working. If your __________(job, creative endeavor, way of cooking chili) is obviously failing, you don’t have to keep checking every branch. Go find another tree.

Chores are better when you can play.

Photo by Phillipe Put

I’ve never seen a pile of leaves I could easily resist. Leaf piles truly beg for playtime. If it’s in a stranger’s yard, its possible to restrain myself, but never easy.

When it’s time to do yard clean up, I crank up the spotify and have at it. Once everything is all piled up…it’s on.

Jump kick and flail. Dance like the neighbors aren’t wondering about you.

Let it go, already.

The trees listen to the sun and the weather, and eventually shed the leaves they don’t need so they can get ready to rest for the winter.

Consider your life, and what you’re hangin onto. What is it that you no longer need? What’s keeping you from your rest?

What would it be like if you let it go? If it’s like leaves falling in a beam of sunlight, you’re on the right track.