Finding Your Pause
Slowing Down as October Fades into November
There’s something about late October that shifts the energy. The air grows crisper, darkness arrives earlier, and suddenly we can feel the momentum building toward the holiday season. Before we know it, we’re caught in the current, rushing from Halloween to Thanksgiving to December’s whirlwind, without truly inhabiting any single moment.
This threshold between October and November offers us something precious: a chance to intentionally slow down before the seasonal acceleration begins. Here are some ways to create that pause and stay fully present in your days.
Create Morning Rituals That Ground You
Before the day’s demands come rushing in, claim the first moments for yourself. This doesn’t require hours, even ten minutes can recalibrate your entire day. Try sitting with your coffee or tea without your phone, watching the morning light change. Journal three things you’re grateful for, or simply sit in stillness and breathe. The key is consistency, not duration. These quiet mornings become an anchor that keeps you tethered to yourself, no matter how hectic the day becomes.
Embrace Seasonal Transitions Mindfully
Instead of rushing past October’s end, honor this in-between time. Take a slow walk and notice what’s changing, leaves reaching their peak color, the quality of afternoon light, the smell of wood smoke. Bring natural elements indoors: branches with colorful leaves, pine cones, dried flowers. These small acts of attention help you stay connected to the present season rather than living three weeks ahead in your mind.
Practice Single-Tasking
Our culture celebrates multitasking, but it fragments our attention and steals our peace. This week, choose one daily activity to do with complete focus. Wash dishes and just wash dishes, feeling the warm water, noticing the clean plate emerging. Eat lunch away from screens, tasting each bite. Walk without a podcast or music, simply experiencing the walk itself. These moments of full presence are revolutionary acts of slowness.
Set Boundaries Before You Need Them
The time to decide how you want to move through the holiday season is now, before invitations and obligations multiply. What matters most to you? What can you release? Perhaps you’ll choose three holiday events instead of eight. Maybe you’ll start a tradition of simple, homemade gifts. Or you might designate certain evenings as sacred rest time, no matter what. Setting these intentions now creates a buffer against the rushing tide.
Build in White Space
Look at November and resist the urge to fill every square on the calendar. Leave entire days or evenings blank, on purpose. This white space isn’t wasted time; it’s breathing room. It’s where spontaneity lives, where rest happens, where you can respond to what you actually need rather than what you planned six weeks ago. Guard this emptiness fiercely.
Engage Your Senses Fully
Presence lives in the body, not the mind. Throughout your day, pause and check in: What do I smell right now? What can I hear? What textures am I touching? This sensory awareness drops you instantly into the present moment. Light a candle and really watch the flame. Wrap your hands around a warm mug and feel the heat. Step outside and let the cold air shock you awake. These small sensory moments are doorways to presence.
Simplify One Thing
Choose one area of your life and simplify it this week. Maybe it’s your evening routine, your meal planning, or your morning getting-ready process. What’s one step you can eliminate? What’s one decision you can make once instead of daily? This simplification creates mental space and reduces the low-level friction that makes life feel rushed.
Practice Saying “Not Right Now”
You don’t have to respond to every email immediately, engage with every group text, or scroll through every social media update. The world will keep spinning if you check in twice a day instead of twenty times. Try designating specific times for digital engagement and protecting the rest of your time for undivided presence with whatever (or whoever) is in front of you.
Notice the Ordinary Magic
We often rush through ordinary moments while waiting for special occasions. But presence means finding the magic in what’s already here: the sound of rain on the roof, your child’s laugh, the steam rising from soup, the way afternoon light slants through your window. Start noticing these moments, perhaps even keeping a running list. The more you look for them, the more they appear, and the richer your days become.
End Your Day with Reflection
Before sleep, spend five minutes reviewing your day, not with judgment, but with gentle noticing. What moments do you actually remember? When did you feel most present? When did you rush? This isn’t about self-criticism; it’s about building awareness. Over time, you’ll naturally begin making choices that create more of those present moments.
The holidays will come whether we rush toward them or not. But we get to choose how we want to arrive, frazzled and depleted, or grounded and present. The invitation isn’t to do more, but to do less, more slowly, with more attention. This space between October and November is asking: What if you didn’t speed up? What if you let yourself move at a human pace, savoring the season as it unfolds?
The pause is here if you want it. All you have to do is take it.
