10 Fall Journal Prompts to Sit With Over Tea This October
Every October the kitchen goes dark before dinner, and I notice I start moving faster instead of slower, as if I can outrun the season changing. That is why I put 10 fall journal prompts on the reflection card in this month's box, and why all 10 are here too. You do not need the box to use them. You need 10 quiet minutes, something to write in, and a cup of something hot.
The short version: 10 questions for October, with a line from me under each on why I ask it.
✓ Take 1 question and 10 minutes, not the whole list in one sitting
✓ Write by hand if you can
✓ Answer over tea, because the wait between sips is the thinking part
✓ They work alone, and they work better out loud with 1 other person
What are fall journal prompts, and do they actually do anything?
Fall journal prompts are seasonal questions that give you somewhere specific to start, which is the one thing a blank page never gives you. October does half the work already, because it has you noticing what is ending and what you never got around to.
Reflecting is not just a nice idea. Researchers at Harvard Business School and HEC Paris found that people who spent a few minutes writing about what they had just learned performed measurably better afterward than people who simply kept going.
Write by hand if your hand will let you. A Norwegian study using high-density EEG found that handwriting produced far more widespread brain connectivity than typing the same words. Your phone will not stop you thinking. It just will not help you the way a pen does.
10 fall journal prompts for October
Here are the 10 I am asking this month, in order. Pick 1. You are not behind if you never reach number 10.
- What did you carry all through summer that you are ready to set down? Most of us are still hauling August around in October, and nobody has told us we are allowed to put it down.
- What changed in your week when school started, and did anybody ask whether you wanted it to? My calendar rearranges itself every August and I do not remember agreeing to a line of it. Writing it out is how I notice.
- What is the first thing you do when it starts getting dark before dinner? The light changes before we are ready and most of us push straight through the evening. Naming what you do at that hour is how you get to choose it.
- Who did you mean to call this summer and never did? There is usually a name. Write it down, then call her, because a name on a page is not the same as a person on the phone.
- What does cozy look like in your real house, not in a photo? Cozy in a photo costs money. Cozy in a real house is a blanket you already own and a cup within reach. Nobody has to redecorate for fall.
- Which fall tradition do you keep because you love it, and which one do you keep because you always have? This one stings. It also frees up the most room before the holidays land on you.
- What food or drink takes you straight back to somebody else's kitchen? I ask this in October on purpose, because food memory is where most of our heritage actually lives. More on that at the end.
- What are you already dreading about the holidays, and what is 1 thing you could decide right now to skip? You are allowed to decide in October. It is so much easier than deciding in December with everybody watching you do it.
- Where did you surprise yourself this year? We are 3 quarters through, and most women I know can list what they did not finish faster than what they did. Flip it.
- What do you want to carry into the last 10 weeks of the year, deliberately? Not a resolution. One thing, written where you will still see it in November.
How to use them on your own in 10 minutes
Pour the tea first, read 1 question, then wait. The waiting is deliberate: tea comes out too hot to drink, so the 3 or 4 minutes it takes to cool are the minutes you spend thinking. That is why I built this around a cup instead of a timer.
Do not try to answer well. Answer honestly, in fragments if that is what comes. You can close the notebook mid-sentence. I do.
Psychologist Fred Bryant, who has spent a career studying how people hold on to good moments, lists sharing a good feeling with somebody else as the first step in savoring it. Which brings me to the better version of this.
How to use them at a table with somebody else
Read the question out loud, both of you answer, and nobody fixes anybody. That is the whole rule. I learned it at my own kitchen table with 5 kids and a pot between us, back when I could not have told you it was a method.
It works with a sister on speakerphone, with 1 friend on a Tuesday, and with your teenager if you pour the cup first and do not look directly at them.
| How you do it | What it takes | What it is good for |
|---|---|---|
| On your own with a journal | 10 minutes, 1 question, 1 cup | Noticing what you have been avoiding |
| With 1 other person at a table | About an hour and a full pot | The conversation you have been meaning to have |
| At my monthly virtual tea party | 75 minutes and your own kettle | Hearing other women answer the same question |
The last row surprises people. A question lands differently when a stranger answers first, because she says the honest thing you were still editing.
Where these questions come from
They come off the reflection card in the monthly box, and they change with the season, which is why October's are not September's. If you would rather hold them than scroll them, the Tea Blossom Club monthly subscription is $26.00 and brings 3 teas, 12 sachets, the cards, something sweet, and a seat at the monthly virtual tea party.
If a subscription is more than you want, Simple Pleasures is a one-time box at $46.00 and comes with a tea time journal in place of the teacup if you choose it. That is the one I send to the woman who would rather write than pour.
Two of September's questions are the reason this post exists: one asked what you were releasing from summer, the other what you wanted to carry into October on purpose. You can still read all 10 of September's reflection questions.
A last word on Hispanic Heritage Month, which ends today
Today is the last day of National Hispanic American Heritage Month, which runs from September 15 to October 15 and is marked by the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian, the National Archives and the National Park Service. In San Antonio it is not a month on a calendar. It is the neighborhood.
Question 7 is my quiet way of keeping it going past today. Ask a woman what drink takes her back to somebody else's kitchen and you will not get a recipe. You will get a person.
That matters more than it sounds. Psychologists at Emory University found that teenagers who knew more stories about their extended family showed higher emotional well-being and a stronger sense of who they were. Stories do not pass themselves down. Somebody has to sit at a table and tell them.
If you missed them, I wrote about the warm drink traditions behind jamaica, canela and manzanilla, and my own letter on comfort, culture and coming home is still up too.
So that is October. 10 questions, 1 cup, and permission to answer only the one that caught you. The tea itself is just a vehicle. What you are really doing is sitting down with yourself for 10 minutes, which most of us have not done since summer.
The Steeping Chronicles is where I send the sweet side and the real side each month, and I would love to have you there. Pour into yourself. I mean it.
Questions People Ask About Fall Journal Prompts
What are good fall journal prompts for October?
Good fall journal prompts ask about this season specifically, not about life in general. The 10 in this post cover what you are ready to set down from summer, how your week changed in the fall, what cozy looks like in your real house, which traditions you keep out of love and which out of habit, and what you want to carry into the last weeks of the year.
How long should I spend journaling in the morning or evening?
Ten minutes with 1 question is enough, and it beats an hour you keep postponing. I build mine around a cup of tea because the 3 or 4 minutes it takes to cool are already thinking time. Pick the hour you are least likely to be interrupted.
Is it better to journal by hand or on my phone?
By hand, if your hand allows it. A Norwegian study using high-density EEG found handwriting produced far more widespread brain connectivity than typing the same words. That said, the notebook you actually open beats the beautiful one you do not, so if your phone is what you have, use your phone.
Can I use reflection questions with other people instead of writing?
Yes, and it is often better out loud. Read the question, let everyone answer, and nobody fixes anybody. It works with 1 friend, a sister on speakerphone, or a teenager who will say more over a cup than across a dinner table. My monthly virtual tea party runs on exactly this.
Do I have to subscribe to the box to get the reflection cards?
No. Every question is published here for free, and September's set is on the blog too. The subscription box is for people who would rather hold the card than scroll it, and it brings 3 teas, 12 sachets, something sweet and a seat at the virtual tea party for $26.00 a month.
What if a question brings up something hard?
Close the notebook. These are questions, not assignments, and you are allowed to leave one for next year. The ones about traditions and about what you are dreading are the heaviest, and usually the ones that change something. Come back when you have the room.