7. Don’t forget to check out holiday picture frames at resale shop or garage sales.

You could move a favorite photo to a holiday frame and place that somewhere prominent. Neat if you use photos from former holidays, like when kids were little, or your grandparents were still alive.

Also look over prints at garage sales and bargain stores with an eye toward frames. You can throw out print!

8. If you have a neutral couch with pillows, shop bargain stores for accent pillows in fall colors, or change them all to thematic color. Slipcovers are also a possibility.

9. Let children make some decorations.

Some suggestions: Painting Thanksgiving pictures you then frame and hang on walls or use for placemats. Cutting out leaves in fall colors to place around centerpiece, scatter across front door step to welcome guests, or pin to curtains. Given them clay or play-doh and let them fashion pilgrims, turkeys, leaves, or fruits. 10. Don’t forget yourself!

Most thrift stores set up displays of holiday apparel you’ll want to take advantage of for you and kids. (And most beautiful hostess is one who is rested and enjoying event herself, so take care of yourself and use your EQ skills.)

Another aspect of nourishing soul is ability to stay focused on present, to live in present. Many years ago in 1960s, I was writing a book called The Psychology of Self-Esteem. I was a young man at time, in my thirties, and one day I was sitting at my typewriter, impatient for book to be finished, thinking that my life would really begin to unfold only when this book was finished. Yet I intuitively knew that something was wrong with this line of thought. So I asked myself what I thought I would be doing when book was finished, and I immediately answered, "Planning next book." And when next book was finished? "Planning book after that." I saw that my life, first and foremost, was about writing: that was and is my passion. So, in middle of writing The Psychology of Self-Esteem, I finally realized "This is it. This is my life. If I can't enjoy it now, every day, there is no reason to believe I'll be better able to enjoy it in future, after seventh, eighth, or ninth book."

That realization was a turning point for me. The impulse to focus on future can be quite strong. It's natural to look ahead. Yet I realized that key to happiness lay in enjoying process, not just final result  because greater part of my life was going to be spent at level of process and not at stage of contemplating finished product. So now I bless each day I can get up and go to my computer and sit down to write and know and love fact that this is what my life is about.

I believe that earning your living doing something you enjoy is one of very best ways to nourish yourself. But even if you are employed at something that is not your ideal work, it is important to find ways to take as much pleasure in it as possible. Living in present moment can make ordinary activities more interesting and joyful, you may be surprised, if you only look, at what you will find. If you try to stay connected with why you are doing what you are doing, for example, then even parts of your life that aren't especially exciting can become more meaningful. Sometimes I have to go to an event that doesn't especially interest me. I've learned to tell myself, Make this experience as happy for yourself as you possibly can. Once that becomes a conscious purpose, it's amazing how imaginative one can become. Life becomes infinitely more interesting.

Nothing I am saying about importance of living in present denies value of being concerned with future. We want to keep in mind our goals, what we're moving toward, and to see progression and direction that underlie our activities. We need to be able to plan for future without sacrificing present, and enjoy present without making ourselves oblivious to future. Obviously, we cannot control every single aspect of our life. We are not omnipotent. But we do have an enormous degree of responsibility for shape our life takes. We have many options about how we will respond to events. We are not passive spectators, but active contestants in drama of our existence. We need to take responsibility for kind of life we create for ourselves.

How do we nurture soul? By revering our own life. By treating it as supremely important. By reaching for best within ourselves. By learning to love it all, not only joys and victories, but also pain and struggles.