George Goodsaid on Catholic Positive Energy: Faith, Apologetics, Purpose, and Bringing People Back to the ChurchIn this episode of The Neil Haley Show, Neil “The Media Giant” Haley welcomes author, Catholic speaker, educator, and content creator George Goodsaid, author of Catholic Positive Energy. Goodsaid shares his personal faith journey, his return to Catholicism, his study of theology and apologetics, and his mission to use faith, encouragement, prayer, and education to bring what he calls “positive energy” into the world.Goodsaid explains that his passion for Catholicism developed gradually. He was raised Catholic and attended Mass with his family as a child, but says he left the Church around age nine and spent years going in a different direction.His journey back began in college.At 19, while attending a secular community college, Goodsaid became friends with non-Catholic Christians who invited him to Bible study. He says he had never seriously opened the Bible before that time, and hearing other Christians quote and discuss scripture created a new curiosity about faith.Soon afterward, he connected with someone at his Catholic parish who began teaching him more about Catholic beliefs. Those conversations became another major turning point. Goodsaid began studying the faith more deeply and eventually became convinced that Catholicism was where he belonged.That curiosity developed into serious academic study. Approximately three years ago, Goodsaid earned a Master’s degree in Catholic Theology from Catholic International University.One of the most influential moments in his journey came when he attended a presentation by Catholic apologist Tim Staples, formerly of Catholic Answers. Goodsaid remembers being amazed to hear a Catholic speaker quoting scripture extensively while explaining and defending Catholic teachings.That encounter introduced him to Catholic apologetics.Goodsaid explains apologetics as the practice of offering a reasoned defense or explanation of the faith—not apologizing for being Catholic, but answering questions about why Catholics believe and practice what they do.That experience helped clarify his own calling. Goodsaid says he does not feel called to become a priest, but he does feel called to serve as a Catholic lay speaker, author, educator, and apologist.His book, Catholic Positive Energy, grew out of that mission.The short, accessible book combines parts of Goodsaid’s personal journey with scripture, Catholic teaching, encouragement, and lessons about developing a more positive life through faith. He says one chapter focuses on the importance of positive role models, while other sections explore lifting people up, moving beyond painful experiences, and learning how to “live life to the fullest.”Goodsaid also discusses why he believes many Catholics become disconnected from their faith. In his view, some people grow up attending Mass without receiving enough instruction about why Catholics worship, pray, and believe the way they do.That is one reason he created his Catholic Positive Energy YouTube platform during the pandemic.On the channel, Goodsaid combines Catholic teaching with an encouraging, approachable style. His broadcasts may include meditation, breathing exercises, the Rosary, the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, scripture, readings from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and explanations of Catholic practices.He addresses questions such as why Catholics call priests “Father,” why priests and religious sisters practice celibacy, what happens during Mass, and how Catholic teaching differs from secular culture.Goodsaid says his goal is not to attack people from other Christian traditions. In fact, he credits non-Catholic Christians with helping lead him back toward faith. He believes Christians from different traditions can sometimes help one another, especially when people are sincerely searching for God.Another part of his platform, called Goodsaid Vibes, allows him to discuss happiness, loneliness, purpose, faith, and encouragement in a more conversational setting. While he makes clear that he is not a mental-health counselor, he wants people who feel lonely or discouraged to hear a simple message: they are loved, valued, and not forgotten.Goodsaid describes his approach as trying to become a Catholic version of Mr. Rogers—someone who teaches while remaining welcoming, cheerful, compassionate, and encouraging.Professionally, he currently works as a substitute teacher at a Catholic elementary and middle school. With his graduate degree in theology, he hopes eventually to expand into full-time Catholic education, writing, speaking, apologetics, or work with an organization devoted to explaining the faith.Neil and George also discuss the unique role lay Catholics can play in evangelization. Goodsaid believes some audiences may connect differently with an ordinary layperson who has experienced loneliness, confusion, mistakes, and a gradual return to faith.His message is ultimately about purpose.For Goodsaid, Catholicism gave him direction when he felt lost. Now he wants to provide that same encouragement to someone else who may be searching.Listeners can learn more about George Goodsaid, purchase Catholic Positive Energy, explore his merchandise, and connect with his work at GeorgeGoodsaid.com. His Catholic Positive Energy content is also available on YouTube and Facebook.

Leah Harper Bowron on Colorblind: School Integration, Racism, Bullying, and Growing Up in 1960s AlabamaIn this episode of The Neil Haley Show, Neil “The Media Giant” Haley welcomes attorney and author Leah Harper Bowron to discuss the re-release of her young adult novel Colorblind. Inspired by Bowron’s own sixth-grade experience in Montgomery, Alabama, the novel explores school integration, racism, bullying, courage, and the complicated realities children witnessed while growing up in the segregated South during the late 1960s.Bowron’s professional background is in law. She worked in areas including real estate, wills and trusts, estate matters, and bankruptcy. Years of legal writing gave her a strong foundation, but she eventually decided she would rather tell fictional stories than spend all of her time writing legal documents.Colorblind became her first novel. Originally written approximately eight years ago, the book has now been re-released for a new generation of readers.The story is heavily influenced by Bowron’s childhood. In 1968, she was a sixth-grade student in an all-white public school in Montgomery when integration began changing the school system around her.Bowron remembers Alabama as an openly segregated society. Separate facilities for Black and white citizens were still part of everyday life, and racial attitudes were deeply ingrained in many communities.One of the first steps toward integrating her elementary school, she explains, was bringing an African American teacher into the previously all-white school before Black students were bused there.That experience became the foundation for Colorblind.The fictional teacher, Miss Loomis, is modeled after the actual African American teacher Bowron remembers from sixth grade. In the novel, Bowron intentionally makes Miss Loomis older, smaller, and more physically fragile to emphasize the tremendous pressure and fear surrounding her position.Imagine entering a school where many children had grown up hearing racist beliefs and suddenly becoming an authority figure responsible for teaching them.But the discrimination did not come only from students.Bowron remembers seeing racial separation among the adults as well. During lunch, the African American teacher did not sit with the white faculty members. According to Bowron, she ate separately in her classroom, something the students noticed.Those moments deeply affected Bowron.She remembers feeling uncomfortable watching a teacher she respected being treated differently while also dealing with bullying herself. Two large boys in her sixth-grade class frequently taunted her, and those experiences influenced the bullies portrayed in the novel.In Colorblind, the same boys also torment Miss Loomis, demonstrating how racism and bullying can reinforce each other when authority figures fail to intervene.Bowron says Miss Loomis taught English, which was her favorite subject. One of the teacher’s lasting influences was introducing students to poetry, including works by Black poets Bowron had never encountered before. Those classroom experiences helped expand her understanding of literature and the world outside the culture in which she had grown up.Although Colorblind is based on real experiences, Bowron stresses that it is fiction. She changed characters, personalities, ages, and circumstances to strengthen the story.She also conducted historical research to recreate the atmosphere of the era. Clothing, cultural references, social attitudes, popular trends, and major events help transport readers back to the late 1960s. Bell-bottoms, paisley clothing, mood rings, and other details allow younger readers to experience the period beyond simply reading dates in a history book.Bowron wrote the novel primarily for young adults because she would love to see it used in middle and high school classrooms.Her goal is not simply to tell readers that segregation happened. She wants students to imagine what it actually felt like to sit inside a classroom during a period of tremendous social change.What would it feel like to watch a teacher face racism every day? What happens when adults model prejudice for children? How does a young person decide what is right when their family, school, and community may offer conflicting messages?Bowron also incorporates her own family experience into the story. She describes her father, a lawyer, as supportive of civil-rights legislation, while her mother came from a small Alabama community where deeply rooted racial attitudes were harder to overcome.That contrast gave Bowron an early understanding that prejudice could exist even inside the same family.During the interview, Bowron and Neil also discuss modern discrimination. Bowron draws parallels between the prejudice she witnessed in the 1960s and what she personally views as present-day antisemitism and other forms of social exclusion. Those comparisons reflect her own observations and perspective.Ultimately, Colorblind is intended to encourage conversation.Bowron wants young people to compare the challenges faced by students in 1967 and 1968 with issues they encounter today. She also hopes adults will enjoy revisiting the period and reflecting on how much society has changed—and where difficult conversations still remain.The newly released edition has already gained attention among young adult readers, and Bowron hopes to expand its reach into schools, libraries, book clubs, and potentially film.She is also working on a children’s book for younger readers titled Ferguson Bobo, set on a sheep farm in Ireland.Readers can find Leah Harper Bowron’s Colorblind on Amazon and through major booksellers.

Benton Savage on The Stoic Alcoholic: Sobriety, Relapse, Mental Health, and Refusing to Give UpIn this episode of The Neil Haley Show, Neil “The Media Giant” Haley welcomes author Benton Savage, whose book The Stoic Alcoholic: It’s Not Only About Counting Days offers a brutally candid look at alcoholism, relapse, accountability, mental health, and the long process of trying to build a better life. Savage explains that the book was never meant to present a perfect recovery story. Instead, it became powerful precisely because his journey was imperfect.Savage has been writing for approximately two decades, but his publishing career has accelerated over the last several years. After struggling with traditional publishing, he found new opportunities through independent and flexible publishing models and now has multiple books available.The Stoic Alcoholic began on February 4, 2025 under a different title: Sober Alcoholic: The First 366 Days of Sobriety. Savage planned to document an entire year without drinking.For roughly 100 days, things went well. He wrote consistently, stayed productive, and remained sober. Then he relapsed for several months and stopped writing.At first, he assumed the book had failed.Eventually, Savage realized the relapse had actually revealed the real message. Recovery, he argues, cannot simply be reduced to a number on a calendar. Counting sober days can be helpful, but one relapse does not erase every good decision made before it.That realization became the meaning behind the subtitle: It’s Not Only About Counting Days.Savage says people often fall into an all-or-nothing mentality. Someone may stay sober for months, drink once, and immediately believe everything has been destroyed. His message is that the mistake matters—but so does what happens next.The book is written largely like a diary. Savage says he recorded what he was experiencing in real time and deliberately avoided rewriting his emotions later to make himself look better. That includes frustration with himself, family conflicts, setbacks, and uncomfortable truths.His relationship with alcohol started early. Savage remembers first getting drunk at roughly 14 or 15 years old while attending boarding school. From that experience forward, he says drinking gradually became central to his social life.Eventually it became something much darker.Savage describes periods when he regularly began drinking early in the morning. At his worst, he might purchase large quantities of beer or begin the day with a fifth of liquor and continue until the bottle was empty or he passed out.He also increasingly preferred drinking alone because there were fewer consequences in the moment. At home, he did not have to worry about embarrassing himself publicly or being arrested for appearing heavily intoxicated.Savage says there was no single dramatic rock-bottom moment. Instead, there were many moments that should have been enough.His relationships with his mother and sister were damaged by his behavior while drinking. He describes becoming impulsive and sending repeated messages while intoxicated. His family had heard promises about quitting many times and eventually became exhausted by the cycle.Another major turning point involved his dog. Savage previously lost a dog in a car accident after suffering what he believes may have been an alcohol-withdrawal-related seizure. Years later, when he decided he was ready to care for another dog, that responsibility became another reason to pursue sobriety.Savage also talks openly about boredom and the desire to fill time. He owns an Airbnb rental management business, writes books, and describes himself as entrepreneurial, yet drinking still became an easy way to occupy empty hours.The conversation then moves into mental health.Savage discusses his book Wrong Side Out: Madness Misdiagnosed, which chronicles his experience of being diagnosed with bipolar disorder for many years before later receiving diagnoses of schizophrenia and severe obsessive-compulsive disorder. He says his current treatment has helped significantly compared with earlier periods of his life.Savage describes OCD as particularly challenging because thoughts and behaviors can become repetitive and difficult to interrupt. He also discusses suicide attempts and psychiatric hospitalization in Wrong Side Out, making the book a much heavier companion to his sobriety memoir.His story reinforces an important distinction: Savage is describing his individual diagnoses, treatment history, and personal experiences. Mental-health conditions and addiction require individualized professional evaluation and should not be self-diagnosed from another person’s story.Stoicism provides another framework for Savage’s recovery. He defines it simply as trying to live a good life, do the right thing, and gain satisfaction from acting according to your values rather than constantly needing external praise.For him, sobriety can work the same way.Sometimes, however, the decision not to drink is not day by day—it is minute by minute. Savage admits that after months without alcohol, the desire can appear suddenly and a trip to the liquor store can happen almost impulsively.That is why he refuses to describe himself as someone who has everything figured out.His message is about continuing.In addition to The Stoic Alcoholic and Wrong Side Out: Madness Misdiagnosed, Savage has published Free and Satisfied, a novel set during the COVID era involving an interracial relationship in Memphis. He also has additional books in development.All of Benton Savage’s published books can be found on Amazon, with additional availability through Barnes & Noble and selected booksellers.At the heart of The Stoic Alcoholic is a simple idea: a bad day does not have to become the rest of your life.

Todd Richard Mitchell Jr. on Never Gave Up: Addiction, Faith, Second Chances, and Finding Purpose After SportsIn this episode of The Neil Haley Show, Neil “The Media Giant” Haley welcomes author and former athlete Todd Richard Mitchell Jr., joined by his future wife Tangyetta Wagner, to discuss Todd’s book Never Gave Up. The conversation explores athletic success, alcoholism, homelessness, incarceration, rehab, faith, family, and the difficult process of rebuilding a life after years of setbacks.Todd describes himself as someone who grew up extremely athletic but also deeply troubled. Because his father was in the military, the family moved frequently, and Todd says he often struggled to fit in. He excelled in basketball, football, track, and even baseball, but alcohol eventually became a major obstacle in nearly every part of his life.Basketball was Todd’s first love. He says he received a college scholarship despite not playing traditional high school basketball and later competed at Piedmont College with hopes of transferring to the University of Florida. He also went on to play approximately eight years of arena football.Looking back, however, Todd says reaching the NBA or NFL at that stage of his life might actually have made things worse. Without confronting his drinking problem, he believes sudden fame and millions of dollars could have accelerated his self-destruction.Alcohol became Todd’s way of masking emotions, disappointments, anger, and insecurity. He says he knew for years that he had a problem but continued believing he could stop whenever he wanted. One of his lowest moments came while homeless. His father sent him his last twenty dollars, and instead of buying food, Todd spent the money on alcohol.His addiction also contributed to legal trouble, incarceration, damaged relationships, and multiple vehicle accidents. Todd recognizes today that he could easily have lost his own life—or taken someone else’s.That history became the reason for writing Never Gave Up.Todd began the book in 2017 but says he was not ready to finish it because his own journey was still unfolding. He did not want to teach other people about overcoming adversity until he had actually lived through the transformation himself.The message of the book extends beyond alcoholism. Todd wants it to reach anyone who has failed, fallen down, experienced setbacks, or considered giving up on their future. He believes his story demonstrates that a person’s worst chapter does not have to become the final chapter.Tangyetta plays a major role in Todd’s transformation. She met him around the beginning of his rehabilitation journey and saw something in him beyond the addiction. She describes Todd as intelligent, driven, kindhearted, and loving even during his struggles.Tangyetta admits that supporting someone in recovery required patience. At first, she wondered why Todd could not simply stop drinking permanently. Over time, she learned that recovery is a process. A relapse did not necessarily mean he had stopped trying.She continued visiting him during rehab, taking walks with him, talking with him, and reminding him that falling down did not mean he could not get back up.According to Tangyetta, one of Todd’s biggest turning points came when he felt as if he were losing his faith. For years, Todd believed there would always be another opportunity. Eventually, he began feeling that doors were closing and that he was running out of chances.That fear pushed him back toward God, church, his family, his daughter, and the people who loved him.His daughter also became a major motivation for change. Todd remembers seeing the disappointment on her face after she visited him while he was intoxicated. He realized he did not want her growing up feeling responsible for taking care of her father or viewing him as someone who had wasted his potential.As Todd became sober and more focused, he began rebuilding that relationship.Another major theme of the conversation is what happens when an athlete’s career ends. Todd experienced the excitement of high-level college athletics and professional football but discovered that achievement alone could not solve the problems inside him.Neil relates this to his own experience leaving professional wrestling. Both discuss how difficult it can be when the crowd disappears and an athlete suddenly has to answer a new question: What gives my life meaning now?Todd says faith became the foundation for finding that next purpose. After basketball and football, he pursued acting and earned a film production degree from Miami Dade College. Today, he is developing Born From The Ashes Mitchells Production Studios in Jacksonville, Florida and working toward future films, documentaries, and creative projects.For Todd, success today looks very different than it once did. It means sobriety, a clearer mind, stronger relationships, finishing school, building a business, reconnecting with his daughter, and waking up without being angry at himself or the world.His message is captured in the title of the book: Never Gave Up.Never Gave Up is available on Amazon in paperback and hardcover editions. Todd can also be found through his social media platforms as he continues developing his film and production work.

Paul Shemella on Into the Mist: Alzheimer’s, Caregiving, Prevention, and Finding Joy in the JourneyIn this episode of The Neil Haley Show, Neil “The Media Giant” Haley welcomes author, lecturer, former Navy SEAL, and caregiver Paul Shemella to discuss his memoir, Into the Mist: An Alzheimer’s Journey. Shemella shares the deeply personal story of caring for his wife, Lena, through Alzheimer’s disease while offering practical lessons for families facing dementia, early warning signs, lifestyle changes, memory care, and the emotional realities of caregiving.Shemella begins by explaining the difference between dementia and Alzheimer’s. Dementia is an umbrella term encompassing many different conditions, while Alzheimer’s is the most common form. He notes that other major forms include vascular dementia, Lewy body dementia, and frontotemporal dementia.His own identity, he says, can be summarized in four words: SEAL, lecturer, writer, and caregiver. The first three roles may have prepared him for discipline and problem solving, but nothing completely prepared him for watching his wife gradually lose cognitive and physical abilities.At first, Shemella made the mistake of continuing to treat Lena as the independent professional she had always been. Over time, he realized dementia was progressively reducing her ability to reason, communicate, and function. Eventually, she required the level of care provided by a memory-care facility.Putting Lena into memory care was emotionally painful, but Shemella now believes it was necessary for both of them. He emphasizes one of the most important lessons caregivers must learn: you cannot always do this alone.That lesson became one of the motivations for writing Into the Mist. Shemella wanted to document Lena’s remarkable life while also helping future caregivers avoid some of the mistakes he made. The book includes an appendix featuring lessons learned and practical caregiving recommendations.Shemella describes the growing number of dementia cases as a looming challenge for the American healthcare system. He argues that society is not fully prepared for the number of families who will soon require memory-care services, medical support, and caregiver assistance.One of the most hopeful parts of the conversation involves prevention. Shemella discusses research suggesting that a meaningful percentage of dementia risk may potentially be reduced through lifestyle changes. He emphasizes regular exercise, healthy eating, quality sleep, social interaction, and staying intellectually engaged.Neil and Paul agree that retirement should never mean retiring the brain. Reading, conversation, learning new skills, solving problems, maintaining friendships, and remaining curious may help people stay cognitively active as they age.Shemella also stresses the importance of recognizing patterns instead of dismissing every memory problem as normal aging. Forgetting a name occasionally is not necessarily alarming. Repeatedly losing important objects, becoming confused about familiar places, experiencing personality changes, or showing a persistent decline in daily functioning may warrant medical evaluation.Early diagnosis matters because newer treatments and interventions may be most useful during the earliest stages. Shemella encourages families who suspect cognitive decline to begin by ruling out conditions that can mimic dementia, sometimes called pseudodementia. Vitamin deficiencies, depression, medications, and other medical issues can sometimes create symptoms that resemble cognitive decline.If those explanations are ruled out, he recommends seeing a neurologist as early as possible.Shemella admits he wishes he had pushed harder for Lena to receive neurological evaluation sooner. Like many people in the early stages of dementia, she resisted the idea that anything was wrong. That denial created conflict and delayed care.The book also tells Lena’s remarkable personal story. Born in Germany, she survived wartime bombing as a young child. Shemella believes those experiences may have left her with lasting trauma, although he is careful to distinguish his personal interpretation from established medical certainty.Today, Lena is in the advanced stages of Alzheimer’s. She uses a wheelchair, cannot speak, and requires help eating. Yet she still smiles.That smile has become enormously meaningful to Paul.He says he now lives “from one smile to the next.” Even if Lena no longer fully understands who he is, she appears to recognize him as the person who visits, comforts her, feeds her, and makes her laugh.That experience shapes one of the most powerful messages of Into the Mist: dementia is devastating, but the journey is not completely without joy.Caregiving can bring exhaustion, grief, guilt, uncertainty, and tremendous emotional pain. But there can also be moments of connection, laughter, love, gratitude, and meaning.Shemella encourages caregivers to strengthen their support networks, educate themselves, ask for help, and accept that professional memory care may eventually become necessary. Most importantly, he urges families to enjoy the moments they still have.His message is simple: take nothing for granted and live from one moment of joy to the next.Readers can find Into the Mist: An Alzheimer’s Journey and Paul Shemella’s other books on Amazon, and connect with him through Facebook, LinkedIn, and Substack.

Laura Stack on Howie the Unusual Bear: Courage, Friendship, Inclusion, and Embracing What Makes You DifferentIn this episode of The Neil Haley Show, presented with support from Books to Life Marketing, Neil “The Media Giant” Haley welcomes educator and bestselling children’s author Laura Stack to discuss Howie the Unusual Bear: The Heartwarming Journey of Courage, Friendship, Embracing What Makes You Different. Drawing on a lifetime in education, Stack created Howie to show children that being different is not something to hide—it can become a strength.Stack spent much of her career as a special education teacher, helping students with learning disabilities succeed in traditional classrooms. After retirement, she moved to the mountains but never truly stopped teaching. She continues substitute teaching from kindergarten through high school while enjoying hiking, skiing, her animals, boating, and an adventurous lifestyle.Writing has been part of her life since childhood. When she was bored, Stack would research animals, plants, and other subjects and create her own books. Retirement finally gave her the opportunity to turn that lifelong interest into published work.Howie the Unusual Bear grew directly from what Stack continues to see in schools. Today’s classrooms are filled with children expressing themselves in many different ways. Stack wanted a story encouraging young people to accept who they are rather than changing themselves simply to satisfy somebody else’s expectations.Howie is not an average bear.Instead of allowing isolation to define him, he builds his own log cabin, grows a garden, creates a library, snowboards, and develops friendships with the animals around him. He creates a life that makes him happy while still hoping to find someone who truly understands him.Stack says she can personally relate to Howie. As a child, she was not always part of the popular crowd and sometimes had to entertain herself. Those periods helped develop her creativity and love of writing.For Stack, the book’s message goes beyond simply telling children to “be nice.” She believes learning to respect differences is an important part of emotional development. When children feel accepted, they can focus more on learning rather than worrying that their appearance, interests, personalities, or differences will make them targets.The conversation also addresses bullying. Stack believes unfamiliarity can sometimes create fear and exclusion. Her goal is to encourage children to replace that fear with curiosity, understanding, friendship, and respect.Friendship is another important part of Howie’s journey. He discovers that connection does not require everyone to be the same. Stack says teachers can help create those relationships by encouraging compassionate students to include classmates who may otherwise feel isolated.Neil and Stack also discuss the importance of dreams.Her earlier children’s book, Once Upon a Boy, follows a lonely child whose wishes begin coming true. The story ultimately becomes a lesson about believing dreams are possible while also understanding that achieving meaningful goals requires effort.Stack has tried to live that principle herself. She dreamed of retiring in the mountains, traveling, owning a boat, and becoming a writer—and eventually created that life. Her adventurous side has even taken her skydiving and swimming with sharks.She and Neil agree that children should not be limited simply because they do not fit neatly into traditional academic expectations. Some students may thrive in college, while others may discover their future through trades, technology, art, woodworking, automotive work, photography, or other skills.The important thing is helping young people discover what they can do instead of defining them by what they struggle to do.Their conversation also turns to the changing classroom. Neil and Stack discuss AI and the possibility of using technology to personalize education for individual students. Rather than pretending technology does not exist, they believe teachers increasingly need to understand new tools and find responsible ways to help students learn with them.Stack also has several additional books in development. One follows a leaf that accidentally travels away on a car and must learn to deal with fear, new places, and unexpected opportunities. She is also working on projects about cryptids found throughout the United States and another book exploring sharks.All of those ideas reflect Stack’s lifelong curiosity and her desire to make children excited about learning.At the center of Howie the Unusual Bear is a simple but powerful lesson: children should be encouraged to discover who they are, believe in themselves, welcome others, and never assume that being different means being less.Stack wants children to understand that they do not need to become someone else in order to belong. Like Howie, they can build their own path, find their people, pursue their dreams, and embrace the qualities that make them unique.Readers can learn more about Laura Stack, Howie the Unusual Bear, Once Upon a Boy, and her upcoming projects at AuthorLoreStaff.com.

James Meuer on Damaged: PTSD, First Responders, Trauma, Service Dogs, and the Courage to Ask for HelpIn this episode of The Neil Haley Show, presented with support from Books to Life Marketing, Neil “The Media Giant” Haley welcomes first responder and author James Meuer to discuss his powerful book, Damaged: A First Responder’s Experiences with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Through his own experiences with PTSD, anger, hypervigilance, sleeplessness, addiction, counseling, and painful memories from decades of emergency work, James delivers one central message: you are not alone, and asking for help is a sign of strength.James describes PTSD as a response to extraordinary trauma that can affect people in many different ways. For first responders, those experiences often accumulate over years. One difficult call may be pushed aside, then another is added, and eventually the emotional weight becomes impossible to ignore.For James, anger became one of the most visible symptoms.He remembers becoming intolerant of small frustrations, reacting strongly to noises, struggling with sleep, experiencing disturbing dreams, and sometimes mentally drifting back into traumatic scenes. His wife would occasionally notice the distant look on his face before he even realized what was happening.Years of counseling, different therapists, medication trials, and other approaches eventually helped James gain greater control, although he says certain reactions still surface.His book began with journaling.A counselor encouraged James to write about his experiences, and over time he accumulated folders, binders, and notes filled with memories and thoughts. His wife eventually encouraged him to turn those writings into a book because she recognized that other first responders might also believe they were suffering alone.Writing Damaged was emotionally difficult. James says he cried while revisiting calls he had never fully processed. He intentionally wrote the book in a direct style without softening what happened because he wanted readers unfamiliar with PTSD to understand what trauma can actually feel like.James also discusses the tremendous support he received from his wife, particularly when she helped him obtain a PTSD service dog.The dog, a Great Dane and Dutch Shepherd mix, became an important part of his recovery. James remembers the dog checking on him when his mood changed, staying close during difficult moments, and helping him feel comfortable leaving the house again.Over time, James found several other outlets that helped him manage symptoms.Woodworking became a form of personal therapy after retirement. He could spend hours sanding wood, creating flags, listening to music, and focusing his attention on something constructive. Music also became especially important when trying to sleep.His broader advice is not that everyone needs the same hobby or coping strategy. Rather, people need to discover what helps them personally move their attention away from traumatic thoughts and toward something healthy and meaningful.James also explains hypervigilance, one of the symptoms he has experienced extensively.For him, it meant constantly scanning for danger, checking doors repeatedly, planning for potential emergencies, sitting where he could see entrances in restaurants, avoiding having his back exposed, and imagining what he would do if someone entered his home.Driving could also become stressful because his career taught him exactly how quickly ordinary situations could turn into emergencies.One call in particular remained with James for decades.Early in his career, he responded to an incident involving a young girl named Krista. The trauma was so severe that there was nothing he could do to save her, but James carried tremendous guilt anyway. For years, he searched for where she had been buried, believing that visiting her grave might somehow help him find peace.In 2018, he finally discovered a memorial page and wrote a message explaining that he had been the paramedic there that day and had never forgotten her.Soon afterward, Krista’s mother contacted him.James eventually met with her and her son and was finally able to talk openly about what had happened. During that conversation, he apologized for feeling as though he had failed.Their response changed something inside him.They reminded him that he had not failed—he had simply faced circumstances beyond what medicine could fix. James says that after finally talking with the family and understanding the event differently, the call stopped haunting him in the way it had for decades.That experience represents the heart of Damaged.James describes trauma like placing rocks into a backpack. First responders may continue adding one terrible call after another while telling themselves they are strong enough to carry everything. Eventually, the weight becomes overwhelming.For James, healing started when he stopped carrying everything alone.He discusses counseling, conversations with trusted friends, peer support, critical incident stress debriefings, and the importance of talking about traumatic experiences instead of burying them.His struggles also included physical injuries, dependence on prescription pain medication, alcohol use, isolation, and moments of extreme anger. James shares those experiences because he wants other first responders to recognize warning signs before their own lives begin unraveling.His message is especially important for police officers, firefighters, paramedics, EMTs, military veterans, and others accustomed to appearing “ten feet tall and bulletproof.”Strength does not mean pretending nothing hurts.James hopes Damaged helps readers understand that the things first responders witness are not normal experiences—and therefore emotional reactions to them should not automatically be viewed as weakness.Talk to someone. Ask for help. Find the person you trust. You do not have to carry the backpack alone.Damaged: A First Responder’s Experiences with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is available on Amazon in Kindle and hardcover formats. Readers can also contact James through [email protected].

Chris Kline on Diamond in the Rough, The Rolling Stones, Spiritual Warfare, and Her Extraordinary Life StoryIn this episode of The Neil Haley Show, presented with support from Books to Life Marketing, Neil welcomes author Chris Kline to discuss her autobiography, Diamond in the Rough. The book is a revised and re-edited version of her earlier work Shake, Rattle and Roll, now featuring a new title, new cover, and expanded material about Kline’s experiences with The Rolling Stones, missionary work, spirituality, and what she describes as encounters with the supernatural.Kline explains that she decided to revisit the book after learning that old footage involving her and The Rolling Stones had resurfaced. She saw an opportunity to tell the story again in a stronger form and include more details about the dramatic transformation that took her from partying around famous musicians to becoming an ordained missionary.One of the most unusual parts of Kline’s story involves what she describes as a nine-year period of “channeling.” She says she experienced a brilliant white light and began hearing a voice she initially believed was God. According to Kline, the voice spoke through her and influenced thousands of pages of automatic writing, including scripture-like passages she says she had never previously read.At one point, concerned about what was happening, Kline says she admitted herself to a psychiatric hospital and brought recordings and writings with her. She says medical treatment did not stop the experiences. Later, after arriving at a Christian mission, she came to believe the voice was not divine and underwent what she describes as deliverance from demonic influence. The manuscript she had created was destroyed.That experience dramatically changed the direction of her life.Kline became ordained and says she traveled internationally to places including India, the Philippines, Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, New Zealand, and Australia. During those years, she participated in Christian missionary work and what she describes as deliverance ministry.The conversation also returns to her earlier connection with The Rolling Stones. Kline recalls seeing Mick Jagger perform in New Zealand after she had become a missionary. She says that, through the lens of her new religious beliefs, she interpreted changes in his stage presence differently than she would have during her earlier years around the band. She stresses that these interpretations represent her personal spiritual beliefs and experiences.Neil and Kline spend much of the episode discussing what she believes are signs of spiritual oppression or demonic influence. Kline talks about anger, despair, compulsive behavior, unforgiveness, and dramatic personality changes. She also recounts situations in which people behaved unusually during prayer or deliverance sessions.These claims reflect Kline’s religious worldview and personal testimony and are not presented as medical or scientific explanations for psychiatric conditions.Kline shares several striking stories from her ministry years, including praying for people she believed were spiritually troubled, witnessing what she interpreted as unexplained physical events, and working with individuals who believed they were experiencing supernatural phenomena.She also discusses forgiveness as a central part of her faith. In her view, holding onto deep resentment can keep people trapped emotionally and spiritually. She believes verbally forgiving someone who caused harm can be an important part of healing.The conversation explores the role of the Holy Spirit within Kline’s theology. She says she believes spiritual gifts, healing, and deliverance come through the Holy Spirit rather than through personal power. She recalls praying for a man suffering from neuropathy who later told her he had improved, an experience she interprets through her Christian faith.Kline also discusses some of the darker chapters of her own life, including substance abuse and an overdose in which she says she stopped breathing multiple times. These experiences contribute to why she considers Diamond in the Rough more than a conventional memoir. She views it as a story of survival, transformation, faith, danger, and redemption.Beyond Diamond in the Rough, Kline has written other books, including Soul Wars, a novel centered on multiple families facing generational patterns of anger, addiction, and spiritual conflict. She also describes a current project using the idea of a financial credit score as a metaphor for faith—examining biblical figures whose confidence in God rises and falls during difficult circumstances.Through all of these stories, Kline’s central message is that her life changed radically when she embraced Christianity and began interpreting her experiences through faith.Listeners can find Chris Kline’s books on Amazon and learn more about her work by searching for Author Chris Kline or Reverend Chris Kline online.

# AI Office Hours: Managing AI Agents and Building a Business Operating System
In this episode of **AI Office Hours**, presented as a special simulcast of **The Neil Haley Show**, Neil “The Media Giant” Haley and Patrick Riley share another week of real-world experimentation with AI. Their conversation covers AI agents, API costs, meeting preparation, business knowledge systems, publishing, web development, and one major lesson: AI can dramatically increase productivity, but it still needs human management.
Patrick opens with a costly reminder. After changing the model behind one of his agents, the system used a more expensive Claude option than expected and burned through about twenty dollars in a day. His takeaway: AI budgets need spending limits, monitoring, and human oversight.
He then shares a story about an AI agent helping locate a missing cat. A pet owner traveling overseas programmed an agent to repeatedly check a local humane society’s lost-animal listings. The AI compared new postings with the cat’s description and eventually alerted the owner to a possible match. It turned out to be his pet. For Neil, the story shows where agents can be useful: repetitive monitoring and research humans would otherwise perform manually.
Neil then updates listeners on his own AI agents. His Marbleism agents are improving, generating sponsorship interest, booking appointments, helping distribute books, and creating social content.
But there are still mistakes. One agent promoted a client’s book using a fabricated cover. The post performed well and generated monetization revenue, but Neil still had to replace the image. He also describes telling another automated campaign to stop, believing it had stopped, and later discovering the agent was still working.
That reinforces one of the episode’s biggest lessons: **AI agents still require management.** Patrick agrees that without supervision, agents can repeat outdated information, overspend, continue unwanted tasks, or work from stale data. Both believe companies using multiple agents will still need a human in the loop.
Despite those problems, Neil remains impressed by the productivity gains. He estimates that some systems already save him several hours each week. He is also using an automated meeting-preparation loop that checks his calendar, Gmail, Google Drive, and historical documents before a call, then creates a briefing about the person or client he is meeting.
The conversation then turns to Neil’s most ambitious experiment: turning Claude into a combination of **fractional CFO, CEO, executive assistant, business coach, and accountability partner**.
Neil has assembled more than two dozen working documents covering clients, revenue, time tracking, podcasts, websites, referrals, strategy, priorities, and automation systems. His startup prompt tells Claude to read every attached file before doing any work and prove that it understands key business numbers before proceeding.
Patrick compares that to asking a human employee to read every document and spreadsheet before starting work. AI can process and reference that information much faster. Neil says the result is becoming a complete business operating system. When a conversation grows too long, he exports the files and starts again in a fresh session.
The hosts also discuss how different AI platforms have different strengths. Neil uses Claude for large knowledge sets and strategy, Google tools for calendars and documents, ChatGPT for images, and other platforms for filmmaking, coding, and web development. No single AI system is best at everything.
Patrick shares progress on app development and publishing, including using AI as a developmental editor to identify weaknesses in a manuscript before revisions go back to his ghostwriter.
The episode closes with a point both hosts return to repeatedly: AI may automate enormous amounts of work, but human skills become even more important.

Mary Shearer Eckert on Marriage, Faith, Forgiveness, and the Hidden Wounds of Pastor’s WivesIn this special simulcast of The Neil Haley Show and the Wounded Sisters Podcast, bestselling author Mary Shearer Eckert reflects on thirty years of marriage, the power of faith during hardship, and the deeply personal themes behind her novel Wounded Sisters. On the day of her 30th wedding anniversary, Mary looks back not only on the blessings she and her husband have shared, but also on the painful seasons that tested their faith and strengthened their relationship.Mary explains that her husband has been her rock through many difficult experiences. Their shared faith has been central to their marriage, especially during moments of profound grief, including the heartbreaking loss of their grandson. Rather than pretending that faith protects people from pain, Mary believes difficult experiences can become opportunities for spiritual growth when people allow God to work through them.That idea is at the center of Wounded Sisters.The novel includes several interconnected stories, including a retreat held at the historic Limpia Hotel in Fort Davis, Texas. The retreat brings together a small group of pastors’ wives who outwardly appear strong but privately carry grief, shame, anger, regret, loneliness, and unresolved trauma.Mary says women of faith are often expected to remain composed regardless of what is happening behind closed doors. Pastor’s wives may feel an even greater pressure because they are expected to support their husbands, protect the ministry, serve the congregation, and present a strong public image.But strong women hurt too.Mary introduces several of the women readers meet in Wounded Sisters. Rosie loses her husband and son within a short period of time and begins struggling with her faith. Maggie is unable to have children and believes God may be punishing her for something from her past. After moving away from Marfa and trying to leave those memories behind, she eventually returns when her husband becomes a pastor there.Norma has survived an abusive marriage, two divorces, and estrangement from her children. Much of her emotional struggle centers on learning how to forgive herself.Sissy carries a dark secret connected to abuse and mistakes made when she was young. She believes what happened is beyond forgiveness and spends much of her life running from her past.Sue Ellen once dreamed of becoming a pianist, but those dreams slowly disappear as her husband’s ministry grows into a megachurch. Eventually, she feels as though both she and her children have been placed behind the needs of the church.Barbara Ann experiences another kind of pain when her husband’s actions within the church create questions of integrity, embarrassment, and shame.The Wounded Sisters Retreat gives these women something they rarely have: a safe place to tell the truth.They can talk about what hurts without worrying about protecting appearances. They can acknowledge anger, disappointment, grief, resentment, fear, and guilt. Most importantly, they begin the difficult process of forgiving both themselves and others.Mary points to Romans 8:28 as one of the scriptures that has influenced her life and writing—the belief that God can work through all circumstances for a greater purpose.She emphasizes that this does not mean painful experiences suddenly become good. Instead, she believes God can use even the most difficult seasons to create growth, compassion, wisdom, and strength.Mary says she spoke with pastors and pastors’ wives while developing the book, learning more about the private struggles that ministry families sometimes feel unable to discuss publicly. Many protect the reputation of the church or pastor while quietly carrying their own emotional wounds.That silence can become incredibly isolating.For Mary, Wounded Sisters is ultimately about creating permission for women of faith to acknowledge their brokenness. A woman can be deeply faithful and still grieve. She can be strong and still fall apart. She can love God and still have unanswered questions.Mary relates those themes back to her own marriage. Thirty years have included both beautiful memories and tremendous heartache, but she remains grateful for a husband who has supported her when she did not feel strong enough to support herself.Her message to listeners is especially directed toward women who appear strong on the outside while struggling privately: God sees the brokenness that other people may never see.Healing begins when people stop believing they must carry everything alone.Listeners can learn more about Mary Shearer Eckert and purchase Wounded Sisters at MaryShearerEckert.com and through major booksellers. The Wounded Sisters Podcast continues exploring faith, healing, forgiveness, relationships, grief, and the experiences that shape women’s lives.