SANDY COHAN: BUILD THE MINDSET TO BECOME UNSHAKABLE

What separates high performers from everyone else when pressure rises, failure hits, or the plan falls apart?

In this episode of Peace, Love, and Bring a Bat, Uncle Dave welcomes Sandy Cohan, former hockey player, coach, bestselling author, global speaker, and founder of Mental Edge Hockey. Sandy explains how athletes, leaders, and everyday people can strengthen their mindset, perform under pressure, and maximize their potential.

After his playing career ended, Sandy spent years coaching professional, collegiate, Olympic, and youth hockey players. He eventually realized that physical talent alone does not separate good performers from great ones. The missing piece is often mindset.

Sandy identifies seven essential qualities: belief, attitude, grit, focus, emotional control, discipline, and self-awareness. These are not emergency tools used only when something goes wrong. They form the foundation beneath everything a person wants to accomplish.

Adversity eventually reaches everyone. Sandy believes parents and coaches should not try to prevent every fall. Their responsibility is to teach young people how to get back up. Falling does not automatically mean failure, and failure does not define someone. The important question is: “Now what?”

High performers do not necessarily forget difficult moments or completely “get over” them. They learn how to move through them. Instead of remaining trapped in disappointment, they identify the next useful action and return their attention to what they can control.

Sandy also explains why success must be clearly defined. Moving through life without a target is like getting into a car and driving without knowing the destination. The target may change, but having direction allows us to evaluate our progress, adjust our behavior, and recognize meaningful victories.

Perfection, however, is a dangerous target. It often grows from fear of judgment, criticism, and how others see us. Rather than chasing a flawless outcome, Sandy encourages people to pursue progress and become one percent better every day.

True focus does not mean blocking everything out. It means locking in on the right actions. Outcomes matter, but we cannot always control them. We can control our preparation, effort, discipline, attitude, decisions, and response.

The conversation explores the important relationship between belief and confidence. Sandy compares confidence to the visible portion of a tree and belief to its roots. Without strong roots, the tree cannot remain standing. Confidence grows when we remember previous successes and create a mental highlight reel of times when we performed well.

Thoughts are not facts. A fearful thought does not prove that something bad will happen. Instead of constantly asking, “What if I fail?” Sandy suggests considering the opposite possibility: What if it works? What if this becomes your best decision, performance, or opportunity?

Elite performers practice pressure until their responses become familiar. Michael Jordan missed more shots than he made. Alex Ovechkin became hockey’s greatest goal scorer while failing to score on most of his attempts. Their success came from continuing to shoot, trusting their preparation, and focusing on their actions instead of obsessing over statistics.

In this episode, you will discover:

• Sandy’s seven foundations of a powerful mindset

Sandy’s seed for the magic garden centers on self-talk. If you would not say something cruel or destructive to another person, do not say it to yourself. Correct the mistake, learn from it, and prepare for the next opportunity—but do not become your own worst opponent.

Ultimately, Sandy is not simply developing better hockey players. He wants to help build stronger human beings who believe in themselves, manage pressure, enter future locker rooms and boardrooms with confidence, and maximize their potential wherever life takes them.

Connect with Sandy:

Website: https://sandycohan.com

Bring peace and love into your life. When necessary, bring a bat, doubt your doubts, keep shooting, and lock in on the next right action.

#PeaceLoveAndBringABat #UncleDave #SandyCohan #MentalEdgeHockey #Mindset #MentalPerformance #Confidence #Focus #Resilience #HighPerformance

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KATE MARKLAND: WHEN ONE HOUR A WEEK BECOMES AN UNBREAKABLE STORY

What can a mother and son build when nearly everything is taken from them except one weekly conversation?

In this deeply personal episode of Peace, Love, and Bring a Bat, Uncle Dave welcomes Kate Markland, former physiotherapist, business consultant, author, and founder of StoryQuest. Kate shares how an agonizing separation from her son, Gabriel, unexpectedly led them to create an Amazon bestselling children’s series—and a storytelling method now inspiring children around the world.

Kate spent years running physiotherapy clinics before selling her final practice following the 2020 lockdowns. She then began helping other clinic owners understand what she calls the “anatomy and physiology of a business.”

In 2023, Kate and nine-year-old Gabriel left a difficult personal environment to stay with a friend. According to Kate, what followed was a nationwide search, police intervention, family-court proceedings, and the traumatic removal of Gabriel only days before his tenth birthday.

Kate recounts watching officers take her barefoot son from the house and place him inside a police van. She says she was not told where he was being taken and later discovered that court proceedings had occurred without her participation. Eventually, she was allowed only one hour of FaceTime contact with Gabriel each week.

Faced with a system she believed was unwilling to hear her, Kate made a decision: she would not quit, and she would use every available minute to protect her relationship with her son.

At first, Kate read illustrated books to Gabriel during their weekly calls. Storytelling had always been central to their family. Gabriel loved bedtime stories, audiobooks, and creating adventures, while Kate grew up listening to her grandfather recite poems and monologues.

After several months, Kate asked Gabriel a simple question: “Shall we make up a story where you’re the hero?”

Gabriel immediately began creating a world filled with extraordinary characters and adventures. Kate became his scribe, recording his ideas without correcting or restricting his imagination. During each call, she read the previous story back to him, invited his edits, and helped him continue.

After approximately eight weeks, they had created six short stories. Kate organized everything into a Word document merely to clean up her desktop. When Gabriel saw it, he recognized something she had not yet seen.

“Mum, it’s a book.”

They published The Adventures of Gabriel, which became an Amazon bestseller. What began as a way to preserve their connection became a larger mission centered on children’s creativity, confidence, identity, and self-leadership.

Kate realized that her storytelling process mirrored her work as a physiotherapist. Instead of listening for the story behind someone’s pain, she was listening for the worlds inside a child’s imagination. The storyteller speaks freely, a partner acts as the scribe, and the story is read back so its creator can expand and refine it.

Kate brought this process into schools. Hundreds of children—including reluctant writers and pupils with different learning needs—were invited to become heroes in their own stories. By separating imagination from the pressure of spelling, grammar, and the blank page, StoryQuest allowed children to focus on one task at a time and discover that their ideas mattered.

The stories have since gained attention across the United Kingdom, India, Pakistan, Canada, the United States, and Argentina. Kate believes children’s stories can cross educational, cultural, and political borders that adults often cannot.

In this episode, you will discover:

• How Kate transformed weekly FaceTime calls into a bestselling series

Each book reflects another stage of their journey. The first centers on perseverance. The second introduces a resurrected dodo named Hope and explores the return of hope. The third examines identity and freedom from the prisons, labels, and limitations imposed by others.

Kate’s seed for the magic garden comes from Rudyard Kipling’s poem “If,” which her grandfather repeatedly recited to her. She never imagined how deeply she would need its lessons decades later. Her message is a reminder that oral stories, poems, and words planted during childhood can become sources of strength when life demands everything we possess.

Connect with Kate:

Website: https://storyquestglobal.com

Bring peace and love into your life. When necessary, bring a bat, never stop listening, refuse to quit, and give every child the freedom to tell their story.

#PeaceLoveAndBringABat #UncleDave #KateMarkland #StoryQuest #TheAdventuresOfGabriel #ChildrensBooks #Storytelling #Resilience #ChildrensVoices #SelfLeadership #NeverQuit

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CHIP SCHOLZ: SMALL DECISIONS CREATE BIG SHIFTS

What if changing your life does not require one enormous breakthrough—but a series of small, intentional decisions made every day?

In this episode of Peace, Love, and Bring a Bat, Uncle Dave welcomes Chip Scholz, executive coach, speaker, author, woodturner, husband of 42 years, and proud father of three daughters. Chip shares lessons from nearly three decades of coaching leaders, working with family, recovering from a stroke, embracing creativity, and learning when leadership requires letting go.

After being laid off from a corporate position in California in 1998, Chip and his family moved to North Carolina. He knew he wanted to work for himself, but he arrived without an established network or local reputation. The first five years were difficult, yet one speaking opportunity at a Rotary Club introduced him to the warehousing and logistics industry.

That connection led to regional and national conferences, assessment work, leadership programs, and executive-coaching relationships around the world. Chip has now spent more than 20 years working within logistics and has led one client’s leadership program for 17 years.

Chip explains that careers rarely follow straight lines. His guiding phrase is “Semper Gumby”—always flexible. Plans change, opportunities disappear, and unexpected paths open. The key is remaining flexible enough to change direction without abandoning your values.

That flexibility became essential after Chip suffered a stroke in 2012. Although he does not want the stroke to define his story, it became a pivotal moment. His wife gave him a lathe for Christmas, introducing him to woodturning. Working with spinning wood demanded concentration, movement, patience, and creativity while helping him rebuild his cognitive abilities.

Recovery also required daily action. Chip initially could not walk around the block, but he began making the decision to put on his shoes and walk. Over two years, he walked approximately 3,500 miles and lost 110 pounds. The transformation did not come from one heroic act. It came from repeatedly choosing the next right action.

That philosophy inspired his book Small Decisions, Big Shifts. Chip reminds listeners that every decision leads toward an outcome. The routines of work, family, school, and responsibility can create a whirlwind that consumes our attention. Meaningful change begins when we intentionally make room for what matters most.

Uncle Dave and Chip also explore delegation, succession, and why many leaders hold on too long. Chip says fear is natural, but leaders must name it, understand it, and discuss it honestly. Delegation requires trust, humility, and the willingness to accept that another person may accomplish the goal differently.

Leadership eventually requires a shift from doing to being. Early in our careers, we are rewarded for personal performance. Once we lead others, our responsibility becomes developing people, communicating outcomes, and giving someone else the same opportunity once given to us.

Chip believes strong leaders do not need to be the smartest people in the room. They surround themselves with capable people, listen to different perspectives, and remain focused on results—as long as the methods remain legal, moral, and ethical.

In this episode, you will discover:

• Why small daily choices produce major transformations

Chip also discusses his books Every Dog Has Its Day: Reflections on Life, Love, and the Lathe and Small Decisions, Big Shifts. His upcoming fiction book, Handoffs, explores an aging owner, his adult son, family-business succession, control, identity, and the difficult process of passing leadership to the next generation.

His message is clear: Get over yourself, remain curious, trust capable people, and make the small decisions that move you toward the life you want. You may not control every turn, but you can choose how you respond.

Connect with Chip:

Books: Small Decisions, Big Shifts

Bring peace and love into your life. When necessary, bring a bat, stay flexible, remain curious, and make the next right decision.

#PeaceLoveAndBringABat #UncleDave #ChipScholz #SmallDecisionsBigShifts #Leadership #ExecutiveCoaching #Delegation #StrokeRecovery #Woodturning #SemperGumby #Curiosity

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NANCY DEYO: WHEN PUSHING THROUGH STOPS WORKING

What happens when the determination that created your success becomes the very thing causing you harm?

In this episode of Peace, Love, and Bring a Bat, Uncle Dave welcomes Nancy Deyo, former Silicon Valley CEO, writer, speaker, resilience advocate, and longtime champion for women and girls. Nancy shares how business failure, a devastating injury, 15 years of chronic pain, and opioid dependence forced her to redefine resilience and rebuild her identity.

Nancy was the CEO of Purple Moon, an innovative technology company created to help adolescent girls become comfortable and competitive with computers. The company combined software, internet experiences, collectibles, and books designed specifically for girls.

Nancy built a team that was approximately 94 percent women and believed in hiring the smartest people possible. However, her leadership example came with a cost. She worked longer, pushed harder, and measured herself by how many goals she could surpass and how much she could endure.

When Purple Moon began running out of money, Nancy sold it to a competitor she considered an archrival. Although others viewed the sale as an accomplishment, Nancy experienced it as a personal failure. Determined to prove she could still achieve something meaningful, she decided to climb Mount Kilimanjaro.

Two weeks before the climb, Nancy injured her back. Instead of stopping, she compartmentalized the pain and continued. Her team eventually fashioned a back brace from duct tape and an inflatable pillow. At 16,000 feet, she collapsed in a tent, unable to move her legs and feeling as if a steel rod were being driven through her spine.

That moment exposed the danger in the strategy that had guided her life: pushing harder could no longer solve the problem.

The injury began a 15-year struggle with debilitating chronic pain. Nancy spent years lying down beside a supply of opioids, grieving the athlete, CEO, wife, and active person she had once been. Even after surgery repaired the original damage, her nervous system remained sensitized, creating a cycle of pain, fear, isolation, and declining function.

A pain-rehabilitation and detoxification program attempted to remove the medication and rapidly restore physical activity. Nancy’s body could not tolerate the aggressive approach, and she entered the hospital unable to walk and requiring even higher doses of opioids.

Nancy finally recognized that the medical system had done what it could. Her survival required a different strategy: listening to her body, respecting its limits, releasing the person she used to be, and directing her remaining energy toward what was still possible.

A therapist encouraged Nancy to accept a “new normal.” Nancy hated the phrase until she understood that acceptance was not surrender. She did not have to give up; she needed to stop fighting herself long enough to move forward.

Unable to sit in a classroom, Nancy enrolled in graduate school and attended while lying on an army cot. During orientation, she told her classmates, “I’m good with it, so you can be too.” Months later, those classmates challenged her description of herself as a disabled chronic-pain patient. They saw a capable contributor who simply happened to work lying down.

Nancy realized that her limitations affected her—but did not define her.

She eventually traveled by purchasing three airplane seats so she could lie down, returned to meaningful work, strengthened her body, regained function, and completed a careful yearlong opioid taper under the care of a compassionate physician.

In this episode, you will discover:

• Why pushing through is not always genuine resilience

Nancy’s seed for the magic garden is to separate yourself from your professional roles. Titles such as CEO—and labels such as chronic-pain patient—may describe part of an experience, but they are not your complete identity. Determine what is true, stay aligned with your body and mind, focus on what you can do, and take the first step before you feel completely ready.

Connect with Nancy:

Website: https://nancydeyo.com

Bring peace and love into your life. When necessary, bring a bat, bring awesome thoughts, listen to your body, remain authentic, and hit your sweet spot.

#PeaceLoveAndBringABat #UncleDave #NancyDeyo #LifeInsidePain #ChronicPain #Resilience #Identity #WomenInLeadership #OpioidRecovery #NewNormal #Authenticity

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REGINA HUBER: LEAD WITH HEART, ENERGY, AND YOUR UNIQUE BRILLIANCE

What can dancing teach us about trust, communication, leadership, and empowering ourselves?

In this episode of Peace, Love, and Bring a Bat, Uncle Dave welcomes Regina Huber, leadership coach, speaker, trainer, author, and founder of Transform Your Performance. Regina shares how her international business experience, passion for dance, and heart-centered approach help leaders build trust, recognize talent, and create thriving teams.

Regina grew up in a tiny Bavarian village of approximately ten houses before moving to Munich, Spain, Portugal, Brazil, Argentina, New York City, and Florida. She spent 16 years with Boston Consulting Group, helped open offices in Portugal and Brazil, built brick-and-mortar businesses, and eventually launched her own coaching, speaking, and training company.

Although Regina did not grow up dancing, it became one of her greatest teachers. Partner dancing requires a leader and follower to communicate without words. If the leader cannot clearly express an intention through movement, energy, and body language, the follower will not feel safe or know where to go.

The same principle applies in business. Leadership is not merely about words, titles, clothing, or carefully prepared presentations. People quickly sense whether someone is confident, authentic, and trustworthy. Regina explains that energy often communicates faster—and louder—than words.

Dance also teaches awareness of space, cooperation, and trust. Whether moving through a crowded floor or being lifted into the air, every dancer must understand their role while remaining aware of the people around them. Teams operate the same way: individuals need clarity, communication, responsibility, and confidence that others will support them.

Regina defines heart-centered leadership as putting people at the center of an organization. When business results decline, leaders often focus first on numbers. However, the people create those results. By investing in employees, listening to them, and understanding their strengths, leaders create the conditions for performance to improve.

Her New Paradigm Leadership framework contains four elements: heart, mind, message, and trust. Heart represents compassion, courage, intuition, and accumulated wisdom. Mind represents mindset. Message covers communication, while trust is the glue that allows teams, creativity, and innovation to flourish.

True leadership begins with self-leadership. A thriving leader is more likely to create a thriving team. Leaders must develop self-awareness, care for their well-being, communicate the larger vision, and include others in decisions when appropriate. Delegation becomes more effective when people feel challenged, valued, and connected to a meaningful purpose.

Regina also encourages leaders to become genuinely curious about their team members. Someone may possess hidden abilities that never appear in a formal job description. By asking deeper questions, leaders may discover that employees can contribute more effectively—and feel more fulfilled—in different roles.

Everyone possesses what Regina calls “unique brilliance.” When leaders understand their own brilliance, they become less threatened by the talents of others. Leadership stops being a competition and becomes an opportunity to combine complementary strengths.

In this episode, you will discover:

• What partner dancing teaches about leadership and trust

Regina recommends listing your talents, skills, positive qualities, and accomplishments. Ask trusted people what they value in you and where you can grow. This practice can strengthen confidence while revealing possibilities you may have overlooked.

Her final message is direct: Nobody else can empower you. Leaders, coaches, and communities can offer guidance, but empowerment remains an individual decision. Do not wait for someone else to grant permission to become who you are capable of being.

Connect with Regina:

Website: https://transformyourperformance.com

Bring peace and love into your life. When necessary, bring a bat, bring awesome thoughts, lead with heart, and be authentic.

#PeaceLoveAndBringABat #UncleDave #ReginaHuber #TransformYourPerformance #Leadership #HeartCenteredLeadership #ExecutivePresence #SelfLeadership #Authenticity #UniqueBrilliance

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ANNIE EMPRIMA: WHEN TRAUMA RIPPLES, HEALING CAN RIPPLE TOO

What if healing required more than addressing the mind and body? What if the soul, nervous system, memories, and earlier versions of ourselves also carried wisdom we needed to hear?

In this deeply personal episode of Peace, Love, and Bring a Bat, Uncle Dave welcomes Annie Emprima, a veteran and metaphysical trauma researcher who explores healing through a mind-body-soul perspective. Rather than conducting a traditional interview, Uncle Dave hands Annie the reins and participates in a guided healing session.

Annie’s journey began during a military deployment in 2016, when she says her intuitive senses suddenly intensified. Over the following decade, she studied trauma beyond conventional medical and mental-health frameworks. She developed modalities intended to help people reconnect with parts of themselves that no longer feel authentic or aligned with their path.

Annie guides Uncle Dave into a symbolic “black room,” where emotionally significant memories appear as murals. Together, they enter those scenes as observers and connect with earlier versions of Dave who were carrying grief, guilt, loneliness, fear, and unanswered questions.

The first memory brings Dave to the funeral of a girlfriend whose death left him overwhelmed by sadness and survivor guilt. Through breathwork and visualization, Annie helps him offer his younger self the compassion and support he did not receive at the time. He reminds that version of himself that he is loved, supported, and capable of eventually finding joy beyond the pain.

The second scene involves eight-year-old Dave crying at his grandmother’s home because he wanted to be with his friends. What initially appears to be a childhood disappointment reveals a deeper pattern of feeling excluded, unheard, and unable to see the larger picture. Looking back, Dave recognizes that he missed an opportunity to appreciate time with his grandmother—but also understands that a child cannot possess the perspective of an adult.

That eight-year-old version of Dave then accompanies them into one of his darkest adult experiences: a period of suicidal ideation. Together with Annie and symbolic ancestral support, the different versions of Dave surround the man who could not see beyond his pain. They remind him that he is not alone, his future contains experiences he cannot yet imagine, and his story will eventually help others heal.

The session reveals an unexpected connection between Dave’s childhood love of baseball, his need for community, and the mission behind Peace, Love, and Bring a Bat. What appeared to be a simple childhood passion was already pointing him toward connection, storytelling, teamwork, and service.

Annie explains that healing does not require revisiting every painful memory. The focus should be on wounds that continue interfering with the present. Even joyful or seemingly unimportant memories may contain valuable wisdom because the soul does not measure significance in the same way as the conscious mind.

In this episode, you will discover:

• Why Annie views trauma as a 360-degree mind-body-soul experience

Annie leaves listeners with an important message: Trauma ripples. Unhealed wounds can affect spouses, children, friends, pets, workplaces, classrooms, and communities. However, healing ripples too. We cannot heal another person or override their free will, but we can take responsibility for ourselves, change what we carry forward, and positively influence those around us.

Connect with Annie:

Website: annieemprima.com

Bring peace and love into your life. When necessary, bring a bat, tell your story, support your community, and hit your sweet spot.

#PeaceLoveAndBringABat #UncleDave #AnnieEmprima #TraumaHealing #InnerChildHealing #MindBodySoul #HealingJourney #SelfAwareness #Community #Authenticity

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THOMAS “TJ” BAIRD: HOW TELLING YOUR STORY CAN SAVE A LIFE

What happens when a battle-tested leader discovers that the most courageous thing he can do is reveal the struggles behind the uniform?

In this episode of Peace, Love, and Bring a Bat, Uncle Dave welcomes Thomas “TJ” Baird, retired Army Command Sergeant Major, bestselling author, speaker, husband, and girl dad. After 32 years of service, more than 20 worldwide deployments, and nine combat deployments, TJ shares how poetry, fatherhood, friendship, and storytelling helped save his life.

TJ’s book, Warrior Dad, began with poems and haikus written for his daughter during his final deployment to Afghanistan. She had given him a stuffed animal named Cool Bear, who traveled with TJ and even flew aboard an F-16. The poems helped them remain connected and assured his daughter that she was never forgotten.

The story carries a deeper purpose. When his daughter was six, she told TJ that he had become too frightening and wanted to return to her mother. Her honesty brought him to his knees. TJ knew he needed to change, but healing was not immediate. He struggled through dark periods, suicidal thoughts, traumatic brain injury, and years of difficult personal work.

A trusted friend quietly removed a loaded pistol from TJ’s home after recognizing the danger. Later, treatment at a polytrauma center, creative therapies, writing, family support, and self-examination helped TJ begin what he calls his Reforged journey.

Writing allowed him to confront buried experiences and transform pain into connection. TJ explains that sharing a story lightens the burden because another person may recognize that they are not alone. It also reminds the storyteller to keep walking the path of recovery.

Uncle Dave and TJ discuss why nobody else can own your story. Two people—even identical twins—can experience the same event and carry away different truths. Honest stories reveal failures and victories, close the distance between leaders and those they serve, and create lessons capable of changing lives.

Retirement brought another challenge: separating identity from rank. TJ is no longer Command Sergeant Major Baird; he is TJ Baird. Titles and outside recognition are not self-worth. He encourages people facing transition to create a five-year roadmap and build their next chapter around values, passion, and purpose.

TJ’s guiding principles include smiling, remaining disciplined in thought, word, and deed, making the team better tomorrow, staying fit in mind, body, and spirit, and living life fully.

The conversation also honors the unseen people behind every successful mission. The final one percent cannot happen without the 99 percent handling preparation, logistics, security, communication, and support. Strong leaders ensure everyone understands that their contribution matters.

In this episode, you will discover:

• How Warrior Dad became a love letter to TJ’s daughter

TJ leaves listeners with one clear challenge: Tell your story. Share the mistakes, support, lessons, and moments that helped you rise. As his wife’s tattoo says, “Fall seven, rise eight.” Your experience may be what someone else needs to begin again.

Connect with TJ:

Website: warriordadstories.com

Bring peace and love into your life. When necessary, bring a bat, bring awesome thoughts, tell your story, and rise again.

#PeaceLoveAndBringABat #UncleDave #TJBaird #WarriorDad #VeteranStories #MentalHealth #WritingToHeal #Leadership #Fatherhood #Resilience #Reforged

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ROY CASTLEMAN: BUILD A BUSINESS WITHOUT BUILDING YOURSELF A PRISON

What if entrepreneurship became the very thing trapping you—and what would it take to reclaim your time, health, and purpose?

In this episode of Peace, Love, and Bring a Bat, Uncle Dave welcomes Roy Castleman, entrepreneur, business coach, AI strategist, Wim Hof instructor, and founder of All The Power. Roy shares lessons from building 15 companies, losing millions, surviving a mental-health crisis, and creating businesses that thrive without consuming their owners.

Roy arrived in the United Kingdom from South Africa in 1996 knowing almost nothing about computers. After landing an IT job, he secretly called his brother from client restrooms whenever he needed help. Years later, Roy bought the company that first hired him.

Since 2002, Roy has launched 15 companies. Some failed; four reached seven figures. His warning to entrepreneurs is blunt: avoid shiny objects. Ideas are plentiful, but success requires choosing a meaningful vision and staying focused.

In 2017, Roy was running two IT companies while working 14 hours a day, seven days a week. By implementing repeatable systems and empowering his team, he reduced his involvement to roughly five hours per week. He then acquired another company and prepared the group to operate independently.

Roy explains that a business needs its own identity, culture, systems, and vision. Founders become bottlenecks when they make every decision or expect employees to work exactly as they would. Strong leaders accept 80 percent, then give people room to grow and surpass them.

The conversation turns deeply personal as Roy describes losing millions after COVID-19 devastated his indoor adventure center. During an extremely dark moment, he stood atop a 130-foot tower intending to end his life. Three rounds of Wim Hof breathing gave him enough space to pause, climb down, and take the next step.

That experience reshaped Roy’s coaching. Business owners cannot separate growth from physical and mental health. Breathwork, cold exposure, relationships, and resilience help leaders make decisions from facts instead of fear.

Roy recommends using AI as a 60-percent tool—not a replacement for judgment, creativity, or authenticity. It can organize knowledge, document systems, repurpose stories, and complete weeks of work in hours. But it needs the owner’s experiences, brand, voice, audience, and processes. Otherwise, it produces generic “AI slop.”

Roy authored Thinking Outside Your Brain with AI in nine days. AI helped interview him, organize approximately 150 stories, and structure the manuscript, but the experiences, lessons, emotions, and voice remained his.

In this episode, you will discover:

• Why focus matters more than having endless ideas

Roy’s final lesson is simple: Never undervalue what you have. Your experience, mistakes, resilience, and shortcuts can save someone else enormous time and pain. Measure the value of the problem you solve—not the limited value you place on yourself.

Connect with Roy:

Website: allthepower.co.uk

Bring peace and love into your life. When necessary, bring a bat, bring awesome thoughts, and be authentic today.

#PeaceLoveAndBringABat #UncleDave #RoyCastleman #AllThePower #Entrepreneurship #BusinessSystems #AI #Leadership #Resilience #WimHof #Authenticity

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MICHAEL BUGARI: HOW LOSING BASEBALL, ADDICTION, AND CANCER SAVED HIS LIFE

What happens when the dream that defines your identity suddenly disappears—and everything you use to escape the pain begins destroying you?

In this episode of Peace, Love, and Bring a Bat, Uncle Dave welcomes Michael Bugari, a former professional baseball player, author, speaker, brain cancer survivor, and recovering addict. Michael shares his journey from the Boston Red Sox organization to addiction, cancer, faith, five years of sobriety, and a life committed to helping others.

Baseball became Michael’s identity at an early age. He earned a scholarship to the University of California, Berkeley, and was drafted by the Boston Red Sox during his junior year. However, an arm injury during his second professional season—and an unsuccessful surgery—ended his career.

Without baseball, Michael lost the source of attention, validation, and purpose that had guided his life. He turned to painkillers and opioids to numb his physical and emotional pain. His addiction eventually progressed to heroin.

Michael later received another devastating diagnosis: a medulloblastoma brain tumor slightly smaller than a tennis ball. He endured multiple surgeries, chemotherapy, radiation, and severe side effects. Yet even cancer did not immediately change him. His recovery began when he stopped blaming God, baseball, and the world and became honest about his choices.

Michael realized that baseball had been his first addiction. The better he performed, the more approval he received—but that approval never lasted. When he could no longer find validation on the field, he sought it through partying, relationships, substances, and other distractions.

His transformation required personal responsibility without endless self-condemnation. He could not change what happened, but he could decide what happened next. Exercise, meditation, visualization, reading, journaling, gratitude lists, and waking at 5:00 a.m. helped him create small daily victories. Those victories slowly rebuilt his self-worth from within.

Writing became especially powerful. What began as a daily practice eventually became his book, The Disease of Me: How Losing My Professional Baseball Career, Drug Addiction, and Brain Cancer Saved My Life.

Michael also discusses the importance of recognizing relapse before taking a drink or drug. For him, relapse begins in his behavior—seeking outside approval, becoming angry when life does not go his way, and refusing to accept life on life’s terms. Honesty, pattern recognition, discipline, faith, and a dependable support network help protect the life he has rebuilt.

Authenticity is now one of Michael’s highest values. He knows the desire to escape has not magically disappeared, but he no longer has to act on it. When temptation appears, he remembers the consequences, the people he hurt, and the painful cycle that always became worse.

A therapy dog also entered Michael’s life when he struggled to love himself. The dog offered companionship without judgment and became part of his healing. Michael now hopes to transform his family’s Ohio property into a retreat, dog sanctuary, or healing space where nature and animals can help others.

In this episode, you will discover:

• How a career-ending injury led Michael toward opioid addiction

Michael leaves listeners with a powerful lesson: When you feel trapped inside your own mind, help someone else. Giving your time reminds you that you are not alone, that others understand pain, and that we share far more than we realize. Service helps the person receiving it—but it can transform the giver as well.

Connect with Michael:

Website: michaelbugari.com

Bring peace and love into your life. When necessary, bring a bat, bring awesome thoughts, be authentic today, and hit your sweet spot.

#PeaceLoveAndBringABat #UncleDave #MichaelBugari #TheDiseaseOfMe #AddictionRecovery #BrainCancerSurvivor #Baseball #Sobriety #Faith #Authenticity #PersonalGrowth

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BRET RIDGWAY: BUILDING A LEGACY THROUGH LAUGHTER, LEARNING, AND BOOKS

What happens when one playful phrase, a love for grandchildren, and a willingness to try something new become the beginning of an entire children’s book brand?

In this episode of Peace, Love, and Bring a Bat, Uncle Dave welcomes Bret Ridgway, author, speaker, entrepreneur, and co-founder of Speaker Fulfillment Services. Bret shares how he pivoted from writing business books to creating imaginative children’s stories designed to encourage reading, learning, and family connection.

The idea began after Bret became a grandfather. Wanting to create a lasting legacy for his grandchildren, he kept thinking about the phrase “crickets playing croquet.” That whimsical image led him to experiment with AI illustration and eventually develop Games Animals Play When We’re Not Looking.

Created for children ages two to five, the colorful A-to-Z book uses alliteration to imagine animals enjoying human activities: alligators arm wrestling, chickens playing checkers, squirrels playing with silly string, and many more. It also introduces children to unfamiliar animals and includes a QR code connecting families with educational facts and activities.

The book became the foundation of Laugh and Learn Library, which combines entertainment with early education. Its website features animal facts, coloring pages, and word searches. Bret has also written future titles including What Animals Dream, What Animals Drive, and Animals at Halloween.

Bret’s mission extends beyond publishing. He plans to give away 1,000 books this year and has already distributed hundreds through schools, food pantries, community programs, and families he meets while driving for Uber. His reward is seeing children become excited about reading.

Uncle Dave and Bret discuss how serving others can lift us during difficult seasons. Helping someone or giving without expecting anything in return can restore purpose and perspective.

Bret explains how AI made the project financially possible. Google Gemini helped him develop the artwork, but AI still requires creative direction, strong prompts, revisions, and quality control. Sometimes it even produces a five-legged zebra—and that one does not make the final cut.

The conversation also explores Bret’s career pivot after leaving the company he helped establish. He tried speaking and coaching but recognized that children’s publishing brought greater joy. His lesson: follow the work that gives you energy instead of chasing shiny objects.

In this episode, you will discover:

• How becoming a grandfather inspired Bret’s children’s books

Bret offers authors a crucial marketing lesson: do not send every reader only to Amazon or Barnes & Noble. Guide readers to your website, offer useful resources, and build an email list so you can stay connected when future books arrive.

Connect with Bret:

Website: laughandlearnlibrary.com

Bring peace and love into your life. When necessary, bring a bat, bring awesome thoughts, follow your passion, and hit your sweet spot.

#PeaceLoveAndBringABat #UncleDave #BretRidgway #LaughAndLearnLibrary #ChildrensBooks #EarlyLearning #Literacy #GivingBack #AuthorMarketing #CreativeLegacy

To support us:

https://davidchametzky.com/

https://www.youtube.com/@davidchametzkyNOW

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/peace-love-and-bring-a-bat/id1552738547