PUSHING BACK CHAOS

“The good is good. The bad is good as well.” How often do we find ourselves in an unplanned challenging situation that induces feelings such as pain, fear, and anxiety that slides us into a downward spiral that seems unrecoverable?  This week, Mike & Melon address the less than popular topic that challenges, hardship, and struggles are actually essential in the pursuit of a meaningful and fulfille...

Join Melon, Mike, and Raf as they discuss the methods and steps they take individually to control their negative emotions from derailing them. The trio unanimously agree that feelings, even bad ones, shouldn’t be repressed, but expressed.  More importantly, they should be regulated. We’re all too familiar with those moments that negative emotions take us hostage and make a potentially bad situatio...

“Sometimes God gives you exactly what you want in order to see if you can handle it.” We all will experience good times and bad times. They are etched into our story of life and we have very little control over them. They can either make us or break us, but we do not have to experience them alone. What we do have control of is who we allow to be a part of our circle and what role they play in it....

Mike and Melon kick off an episode building on the June Mental Health Awareness Month theme. Before we get to that topic, you’ll get a leadership masterclass from our own SF Operator, Mike. You’ll hear how he has been growing and developing his team as they work through their training program. The main points covered are: ·      Innovation- how to foster it in complex situations ·      Problem sol...

Join Melon and Raf as they dive into a topic that is near and dear to their hearts. Fathering. They willing and enthusiastically talk about the challenges of doing the hardest part of parenting, which usually involves just being truly present. They discuss the challenges they faces as fathers in their early stages, understanding the balance of love and discipline, and now seeing the fruits of that...

On a very special episode, Mike welcomes this week’s guest, artist and musician, Skyelor Anderson. Skyelor is a rising country music artist well known for his patriotic song of “Thank you for your service”, but also a hard-working, husband and father that actively pushes back the chaos of his music career and all that life brings.  With Memorial Day on the horizon, Mike and Skyelor discuss his bac...

Join Mike and Raf this week as they continue their discourse on mental health and more importantly, how it plays an existential role in our lives individually, and collectively in the ether of our current culture. They run the gamut in this discussion. They share personal experiences regarding  people close to them, as well as, their own mental health battles and the immediate ripples it had in th...

Join Mike and Melon as they open with a Mother’s Day shout out to all the amazing women who nurture and love us unconditionally. They give us all compassion and care for us when we are down and live their highs when we triumph over challenges. Let us know about the amazing mothers in your life. ·      Difficult decisions.  Sometimes it can feel like life is only a series of difficult decisions. Al...

Join Mike and Raf  as they answer some of the questions they picked from the listeners. They talked about a Veteran Owned business/charity they believe in. They discussed what advice they’d give their 10 year old self. Similarly, they talked about any “what if’s” they might find themselves pondering and regretting. Finally, Mike shares an inspiring story of an active duty service member who was se...

We heard you! This weeks talking points are from the listeners! Listen in as Melon and Mike discuss -The Pursuit of Meaningfulness -Hobbies outside of work -It’s never too late So many listeners hit us up with questions about these, and we do our best to discuss each, realizing that all three actually blend together to form purpose, meaningfulness, and happiness. We are all on this journey to find...

Happiness. The one thing we are all trying to enjoy, but what is it exactly? Is it a date on the calendar? A certain place that we visit? A full bank account? Is it a person in our life? Is it simply a state within our own consciousness? Every day we find ourselves working along this journey, trying to sift through the chaos of life and identify these periods of joy, but sometimes, we can’t help b...

Hollywood is full of tough guy characters. The hard nosed action hero who comes through in the end every time, and who crushes all before him. We all know the trope. Part of it is that these characters don’t have emotions, or feelings.  We are aiming to work towards physical competence and capability every day, but are we also building up our emotional strength and emotional IQ? Can we be both phy...

This week, the trio returns to one of their favorite books, Tender Warrior. A book written by Stu Weber, former Green Beret, Vietnam Veteran, and Pastor. We focus on Chapter 4 and it’s topic of “Staying Power.” In today’s society, it is very easy to run away from that in which we fear or that causes us pain or hardship. The “comforts” of western civilization such as fast food, dating apps, global...

Join Mike and Raf as they dive into a topic that we can all relate to. And that is, the duality of man. In essence, they talk about the differences and nuances that can make someone commit from being a God to a Monster, or vise versa. And we could think of no better example than the Nazi prison guards, that committed untold atrocities against humanity. Ultimately murdering over 6 million and tortu...

Join Melon, Mike, and Raf as they dive into a topic that is unanimously agreed as void of light. And that’s the topic of human trafficking. They share a lot of personal stories that show the scale and possibility of this cancer reaching most homes. They simply wanted to take the time and effort to bring attention to this crime against humanity. More importantly, they felt compelled to share what “...

It’s the bedrock of everyday life. We trust our family, closest friends, work colleagues, teammates, and lets even say fellow drivers to stay inside the lines. Trust is not just given freely or achieved without effort. Some of us aim to create trust, some are struggling to maintain it, and in some cases, some wish to reestablish trust after it has just been broken on your behalf or from another. I...

Servant leadership- removal of road blocks and the provision of resources to the team achieving the mission or goal. When you find yourself in a position of being a leader of the people,one of the most important things to remember is that you are there to serve them and their needs while guiding them from A to B. They work for you and you work for them in all aspects in order to ensure cognitive,...

In the event that we end up failing in a situation, lose a relationship, or just not meeting the mark on a goal, how can we proceed forward to find and maintain a new sense of peace within ourselves? In this episode, Tio Raf shares quite the surprising but real life recent personal experience that pitted him against some of his worst fears, forcing him to “hug the cactus.” This one surprised us al...

Join Melon, Mike, and Raf  as they talk about the dichotomy of your reputation. Simply put, they try and navigate the conversation on the benefits and drawbacks to either taking the hard long road of earning a reputation in your craft, by simply doing the job for years, upon years, with no recognition. In contrast, to faking your expertise, and hoping to learn what you need in short order, to keep...

This week, we are honored to have a friend and fellow veteran “Smitty.” He joins the team to share his military story as he reflects on his 20 years of service as an AH-64 Apache gunship pilot. Throughout his 6 combat deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan, he shares many stories of victory and celebration, but also moments that would bring even the hardest of men back down to Earth.  Listen in as th...

Goals. No matter how big or small they are, we must aim for them. They give us a direction, purpose, and challenges to test our metal on all fronts. This is the beginning stages of achievement. What we must also be conscious of is that some goals are the wrong ones to aim for. Some are unhealthy, unrealistic, or very misleading. They may bring temporary satisfaction, but long term derailment. If w...

“It’s unfortunate that this has happened. No. It’s fortunate that this has happened and I’ve remained unharmed by it.” ― Marcus Aurelius This year will bring challenges and opportunities. Who will you have to be to generate the best possible outcomes for yourself and your life this year?   Join your hosts in this conversation as they look forward and consider the topic of creating themselves in ne...

When someone asks you this question, what comes to mind first? Is it a role?, a job title?, a simple cookie cutter answer? Lets face it, it can be a hard question to really answer. Most of the time it is because we are going with the everyday flow of tasks that need completed and we can lose track of who we are truly supposed to be. So what can we use to figure this out? Our true purpose and signi...

Join Melon, Mike, and Raf on their final episode of 2022, where they look back in review, and talk about their way forward into 2023. They cover some brief high lights of 2022, and how those events impacted them, individually and collectively. Most notably, they talk about the unseemly barrage of chaos that’s been cultivated by these world events, and how that’s affected them. Melon shares his mos...

Christmas. That special time of year that we all look forward to with bright hopeful eyes and hearts. Praying for peace, heartfelt moments, and wonderful memories. Why is this that time? Why do we yearn for such feelings? What makes this time of year so special? Is it the places? The people? Or Is it simply just the magic of Christmas?  Please join us as we share our special Christmas episode and...