I hope you all had a fun Halloween this year. Before you know it, we'll be celebrating another new year! I'm already getting a head start in the wine-drinking department for the upcoming festive season. This week, I'll be going up to Whistler BC to celebrate Cornucopia—a major wine and food celebration. Hopefully I'll manage to take some photos to share with you. Not too long ago, I went to San Francisco and spent a whole day in Napa Valley tasting wine. Though I don't remember too much detail, I have photos to remind me that I certainly had fun. So as I share these photos with you, I'll take this opportunity to elaborate on a topic that seems to dominate my thoughts at this moment.

Me and "The Donald" on Halloween.

Arriving at Robert Mondavi Winery in Napa Valley.

In various situations this month I found myself explaining the important state of "being in the moment." This means choosing to be completely conscious of every breathing second, being mindfully aware of what is going on right here and now, in your experience—and this includes any thinking you do about the past or future. Being fully aware of this moment, right here, may remind you that your experiences do not always have this quality of awareness or consciousness. You may even realize you're quite often in a robotic state where you're not mindfully aware of what's going on. You may know on some level that you're unhappy but you probably don't realize most of the time that you have an option not to be unhappy.

Welcome to my cellar!

No shortage of wine here.

Sometimes while you are home your thoughts are still absorbed with solving the challenges you face at work. And when you are at work you find yourself worrying about problems at home. You may even go through the day without really listening to what others are saying to you. You may be hearing the words, but you're not absorbing the message. When you're not fully in the moment, you could find yourself involved in yesterday and tomorrow, and never even notice that today is slipping by. You could end up going through the day rather than getting something from the day.

So much wine to try, I may have to stay a few more days.

I should be cut off!

It's important that you take the time to observe and ponder what is happening around you. Be alert. Be awake. Let life and all of its subtle messages touch you. Often, the most extraordinary opportunities are hidden among the seemingly insignificant events of life. If we do not pay attention to these events, we can easily miss the opportunities. If we were to metaphorically describe our lives as precious paintings, then wouldn't you say each moment in our lives is like an invaluable piece of the grand painting? No matter how simple, complex, high or low the moment may be, it is still nevertheless a piece that contributes to the outcome of your grand painting. As you paint the grand picture of your life, every moment requires your equal respect and undivided attention.

Can I live here?

I feel like a puppy in a park.

Let's say you want to paint a picture to include a sun, some mountains, a stretch of green grass and a sea of water, but you're having a tough time drawing the sun so you decide to scratch it out, or give it far less attention than you do the other elements in the picture. What do you think your grand painting will look like now? Realistically, without the sun, can the clouds still have a sun lit glow? Can the grass still be green as ever? Will the day be bright enough for you to enjoy the view of the mountains? Do you see how everything interrelates and affects each other seamlessly? And so it is important that you're fully present and always aware as you paint the grand picture of your life. Hold your brushes firmly and paint all your moments well.

I think I made some new friends that day.

Got to make time to smell the roses.

Being in the moment is learning to be wherever you are—completely. It is developing a unique focus on the current moment, and drawing from it all of the substance and wealth of experience and emotions that it has to offer; it is taking time to watch a sunset; it is listening to silence; it is capturing each moment so that it becomes a new part of what you are and of what you are in the process of becoming. Being in the moment is not something you do; it is something you experience. When you're truly aware of each moment, it is also no extra effort on your willing behalf to seize the question, How can I take this moment and turn it into something great? With this question in mind you'll certainly recognize every moment to be pure potentiality of something greater than you can imagine, and it will be then that you master the art of—not just living, but living well!

I want more wine!!

I think it's time for me to go...