Timber's Morning Coffee

WHAT?!?! I must be nuts, right? How could anyone walk away from that much money? I must have had it quite good. My life, surely , was amazing. Except, it wasn’t. Often, blogs go into depth about how toxic the work environment was. They complain about how bad the boss/manager was, or how unethical the company is. And while those things are true, this post is not about them. It’s about me. This post is about the person I became, and how I was changing, to continue working at that job. Let's dive into our responsibilities as humans. Let's talk about our ethical choices. This is a harsh light on the things that I would, otherwise, rather keep hidden. I entered the career path I was on quite by accident. I was wrapping up with some seasonal work and had no idea what I would be doing for the winter. I had my résumé up on a job site, hanging out there, not searching. And I received a phone call. The person reaching out said they had a job available and asked if I would interview for t...

All my life, I’ve had crooked teeth. Well, since my adult teeth came in, anyway. Several years ago, my mother told me that during my Senior year in high school, I was given the choice of braces, or an oboe. Guess what I chose? Yup. And I thought I was going to go on and study music. Fast forward 25 years down the road... I’ve had a few issues with my mouth. One of which was a couple of tooth abscesses due to another chronic health condition. I’ve had to undergo regular root planing/descaling a few times. Now, it’s just kind of old hat to me. This latest time, though, because of bone loss and aforementioned abscesses, I am looking at extraction of two of my upper molars. Fortunately, it’s bilateral, so I’m losing a tooth on each side. Have to look at the positive - balance, you know. I never really realized how vain I was about this. One of the things that came out of the latest appointment is that I am never going to have straight teeth. That is, if I want to keep all of my ...

It’s true. I have started a Yoga Journey (TM). Over the course of the years, I have participated in many modalities of fitness/mind/body training. I’ve done tumbling. I’ve participated in track & field. I was a cheerleader. I achieved a black belt in Tae Kwon Do/Tang Soo Do. I tried weightlifting - not a joke. (Seriously, I did, but it was absolutely hilarious.) I danced. I bought exercise bands in different levels of resistance. I did bodyweight exercises. (Not bad, but BORING!!!) I briefly thought about CrossFit, but then decided that I didn’t want to be called Bret, or wear Axe Body Spray (R). Throughout the years, I kept coming back to one thing - Yoga. I don’t know why, but it kept calling me. Perhaps, as an adolescent, it was the thought of being able to bend over far enough to self-gratify. (Don’t laugh, it’s a thing with some guys.) Maybe it was the thought of having enough flexibility to prevent injury. It might have been because I thought that I had incredible balance...

I am regularly astounded by the things that I see when we get closer and closer to the Holidays. We enter a time when the earth goes dormant, but it would seem that the real crazies come out of hibernation.  It's those Black Friday shoppers. And now, it would seem, that there is a "Black Thanksgiving." Truly, it disgusts me. I see people being very hypocritical. We should be spending Thanksgiving weekend being thankful for what we have and the blessings in our lives, yet we see consumerism on a massive scale. Whatever happened to peace on earth and goodwill toward man? Oh, I think someone dropped it back on aisle 3 where they had to push an old lady out of the way to get the best deal for their already spoiled children. We profess to be thankful for the things that we have, yet we don't appear to be that way when we bang our shopping carts into other people, stab someone over a parking spot and get into a fist fight because someone got the last fireplace mantle be...

Recently, I have been turning toward the Beatitudes. I have looked at them from every direction and wondered why more "Christians" haven't taken to them as a way of life. The one that really struck me today was Matthew 5:9, "Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God." All my life, I have been a peacemaker. (Well, okay, there was one period of about 5 years where I tried to stir up as much drama with my family as I could. . .but let's not dwell on the past) I don't like it when people fight and I just want to see people get along. I seem to have been born with a highly developed sense of compassion and empathy. I used to (and still do) befriend what my mom lovingly termed, "The Unlovables." These were the kids that got picked on in school because they were different. The kids that had no friends. I was constantly asking questions as to why people were being treated so badly and my heart regularly broke for the...