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5 Tricks to a Happy Halloween

Think about it, Halloween kicks off 8 months of holidays that are celebrated by candy.  “The candy man makes everything he bakes satisfying and delicious,” brilliantly written by Anthony Newley & Leslie Briscusse. It is and sometimes to delicious.  If you’re anything like me, I can over indulge on the rich, dark, chocolate, either with or without a crunchy gooey filling.  Many Halloweens, I’ve bought candy in advance since the stores are well stocked, with the best of intentions of not opening up a bag of bite size scumptiousness.  I tell myself that I want to have the best treats for the trick or treaters.  You know what happens? I eat it! Every time!  I have to go out and purchase more.  It’s a bit humbling that I like candy that much that it sabotages my healthy life style choices.

These are my 5 tricks for being prepared to get through Halloween

  • Buy your candy on the last day or the night before.  The stores always have something left.  It avoids a binge.  And binges sometimes don’t end because the Halloween is over.  1 never knows when it will stop.
  • Don’t buy candy that you like. It’s not for you anyway.  It’s for the trick or treaters.
  • You can also give out coins, stickers, pens or crayons. The kids are going to have so much candy give them something that’s fun & different.
  • If you want to have some, plan on it and the amount. Remember on Seinfeld, when George ate his candy bar on a plate with a knife and fork.  Eating mindfully leads to being more satisfied.
  • Pass on the candy. Plan something else that you like to eat.  I slice up a banana and mix a 3 TBS., of cocoa powder with some milk and make a thin paste.  I dip the banana slices in and freeze them. Yum.

There are many ways to celebrate Halloween without it sabotaging your focus on living a healthy lifestyle. It’s a time to make my life sweet by being creative and of service to the trick or treaters.  It makes me feel satisfied and happy much longer than a candy bar ever did.  I decorate my apartment and my apartment door. This year I’m going for a Frankenstein look.

 

Best Day Ever!

My how the years come and go so quickly!?  Have you had the feeling after an outing with family, friends or yourself that this was the Best Day Ever (BDE)!? As one day turns into a week, a week into a month and a month into a year, these days become memories.  They hide out in the deep recesses of your mind.  You know it was a good day, but… After having one of these kinds of days it occurred to me to keep a BDE list so they wouldn’t get lost in recesses of my mind.  I want to be able to recall on them when I need inspiration or a new focal point. One’s life is a piece of fabric and our experiences are the embroidery.  There are no 2 pieces.  Each year you get a new piece of fabric.

Kibbutz Sde Boker Nature Reserve
Kibbutz Sde Boker Nature Reserve

Life is broken down into threads and stitches.  You have your favorite colors & stitches.  You might have 1, 2, 3, 4 or more threads or stitches.  There are no rules.  The 1st thread is used for the compilation of days that are unique to each and every one of us.  Those are the days that make you You. Birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, vacations, milestone, anything that is an important event’s in one’s life.  These form the major images in your embroidery of life.  Then there are the global ones that we all share with each other, religious, national and hallmark holiday.  Now, just because these are special days in our year, it doesn’t make it a BDE.  We’ve all had disappointments on these days that too becomes part of the embroidery.  Then there are the Best Days Ever.  These can be the unique days, the global days, or days that surprise you when your joy is emanating off your skin like steam rising from hot spring.

I keep a gratitude / affirmation / prayer journal and write 5 of each every day.  In a few moments, I reset my mood, get a boost of positive energy & am focused for the day.  After my morning writing on Saturday, Sept 2, 2017, I woke up, thinking of the day before, my unique day that I share with millions of people, my birthday.  It was a BDE experience.  I was with my husband, Joel Perlman, & dear friends, Lisa Fane and Maggie Lally.  We went to Coney Island.  It wasn’t the one thing that we did as much as the joy and laughter that we did it with.  As I am in the latter half of my life, I am thrilled to access untainted childlike joy from simple pleasures.  We laughed! We rode rides that made us scream.  We ate yummy Mexican street food from Dona Zita.  We got to the boardwalk as the fireworks started.  Coney Island puts on a goooood fireworks show.  It dawned on me that during the year I lose the details of a BDE.

So what made this night a BDE experience?  It isn’t the what, but the how.  It’s the excitement, joy and love that I felt during and after the night.  There isn’t a recipe for BDEs. They are an organic event.  My father, Bill Krivit, was a wise man.  He would say you’re lucky if you can count your good friends on 1 hand.  I’m going to reframe that and say you’re lucky if you can count on 1 hand your BDEs each year.  My year started on my birthday Sept. 1st.  When will yours start?  Keep a list of your Best Days Ever.  When you need some inspiration take it out and meditate on the experience.