Cozy Autumn Rituals (Part 2): Making space for yourself with a card

a cozy autumn ritual to make space

In Part One of this Cozy Autumn Ritual series, I invited you to settle in with a warm drink, a favorite deck, and a little curiosity to deepen your relationship with your oracle and tarot cards. Today, we are working with a much less mystical tool: a bingo card!

Ritual does not have to be elaborate or overtly spiritual. Sometimes ritual is simply the act of pausing and intentionally giving meaningful things a place in our lives.

I adopted the idea for this ritual after listening to an episode of the Tiger Sisters podcast. I decided to create a bingo card for the last 100 days of the year. Instead of numbers, each square would contain something I wanted to accomplish, experience, or enjoy before the year ended.  I loved the idea immediately! I began filling my card with things already on my mind: a handful of professional goals, getting more movement into my life, and overdue household projects. Then I looked at what I had created. It was beginning to look suspiciously like another to-do list wearing a cute outfit.

Checklist to Collection

There is nothing wrong with having goals. Some of the things on my original card matter deeply to me, and completing them will feel meaningful. Some of them are long-postponed items that desperately need attention. I also began thinking about everything the final months of the year already hold. Schedules become fuller. Work becomes more demanding. The holidays bring celebration, expectation, complicated emotions, and seemingly endless lists. Even the traditions we genuinely enjoy can require planning, preparation, and energy.

I did not want my bingo card to become one more way to measure whether I had done enough.  So I began changing it. I kept some of the tangible goals, but I also made room for experiences that were not about productivity or improvement:

Rather than tasks, they became invitations to make time for myself. The card began to feel less like a race toward December 31 and more like a visual reminder to notice my life while I was living it.

Claim Space Before the Season Fills It for you

So much of our time is organized around what needs to be finished, fixed, answered, or achieved. When life becomes especially busy, the things that restore us are often treated as optional. We tell ourselves we will make time when work settles down, when the house is in order, or when everyone else has what they need.

Unfortunately life rarely clears the calendar for us. We have to create the space ourselves. That realization eventually led me away from thinking only about “the last 100 days” and toward a phrase that felt more spacious: A Season to Make Space.

This is not about maximizing the final months of the year. It is about moving through them with greater intention and leaving enough room to experience them.

Your squares might include:

A place you have wanted to visit
A meal you want to savor
A creative practice you miss
A seasonal tradition
An afternoon of genuine rest
A coffee date with someone you’ve been meaning to reconnect with
An experience that makes you feel curious or alive
A step toward one of your dreams

Some squares may be playful. Some may be deeply personal. Some may represent growth, while others may simply give you permission to stop. These moments are just for you. Don’t feel the need to make every square feel impressive or turn it into a big event. “Drink tea outside” belongs beside “finish an important project.” Rest can sit next to adventure. Celebration can sit next to reflection. A small pleasure can be every bit as worthy of space as a milestone.

A Small Autumn Ritual

Make filling your card into a small autumn ritual. Set aside a quiet half hour. Grab a warm drink. Light a candle or burn some incense if you’re so inclined and get ready to create your list. Before filling in the squares, take a few slow breaths and ask:

Grab a hot bevvie and fill out your own card

What would help me feel more present this season?
What have I been postponing until I have more time?
What would feel truly restorative for my mind and body?
What experience would I love to remember when I look back on this time?
What small pleasure deserves a place in my life?
What dream could use a little more room?

Write down whatever comes to you without prioritizing or censoring what comes. Let your card include the practical, playful, meaningful, and wonderfully ordinary. Think of each square as an invitation rather than an assignment. If it feels right, you can even count creating your card as one of your squares! Then, because I’m a busy person after all and that’s why I’m making space for myself, I asked my AI boyfriend “Chad” to make it pretty for me so it’s enjoyable to look at. Want to carve out some personal space for your own moments and rituals? I create a bingo card for you to fill out!

Your way is the perfect way

This is still a bingo card, but it is not a test. You don’t have to fill every square or complete a row. The card is simply there to help you remember what you want this season to contain. You might complete a square exactly as you imagined. You might change your mind halfway through the season. Something you chose in October may no longer feel meaningful in December. You are allowed to replace it. You are also allowed to leave spaces unfinished. An unmarked square is not evidence that you failed. It could mean that life asked something different of you, that the experience belongs to another season, you ran out of time or that you just changed your mind. This season does not need to become another transformation project. You do not need to emerge from it optimized, reinvented, or perfectly prepared for a new year.

It is enough to practice being present with ourselves, experience something meaningful, complete what genuinely matters to us, and revel in a few moments of joy.

One square at a time.

Bonus tip: Turning your card into your phone’s lockscreen give you a slice of deliciousness as everytime you see it you’re reminded of your lovely practice and experiences.

I hope you like this idea for making space for yourself coming into the busy season. Create some room for rest, pleasure, meaningful experiences, and the quiet dreams that may be asking for your attention. May your card become less of a list to complete and more of a reminder to notice what brings you back to yourself.

If this practice brings something to the surface that you would like to explore with support, you are also welcome to learn more about my virtual Ground & Renew Reiki sessions.

Enjoy the season and as always, revel in love, light and black holes.

Lynda