Your Thoughts Your Reality

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What happens when you spent decades being the person who had to be ready for what could go wrong—and suddenly, nobody needs you to carry that responsibility anymore?

The radio gets quieter.
The routine changes.
The emergencies belong to someone else.

But your brain may not immediately understand that the mission has changed.

In this episode of Your Thoughts, Your Reality, Michael Cole sits down with Judy Crockett, who spent 33 years with Utah State University Public Safety and served as the university’s em...

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What happens when the uniform comes off—but the part of you that wants to serve is still there?

Military life gives you a mission, a team, structure, and a reason people are counting on you.

Then transition comes, and nobody hands you the next set of orders.

For a married couple who have both served, the question becomes even more interesting:

How do you build the next mission together without trying to recreate the life you just left?

In this ep...

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What happens when the version of you that keeps everyone safe starts costing you the people you love?

For men in policing, military service, first response, and other high-pressure careers, control, vigilance, emotional restraint, and the ability to stay composed under pressure can become part of who you are.

Those traits may make you exceptional at the job.

But what happens when they never switch off?

In this episode of Your Thoughts, Your Reality, Michael Cole sits down with Chris Chandler-Yates, a former New Zealand...

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When did you first start questioning whether you were good enough?

For many people, that story begins early—through grades, sports, appearance, approval, responsibility, or trying to become the version of ourselves we believe others will accept.

Over time, those messages can become part of our identity until we stop asking who we are and start measuring ourselves by how well we perform.

In this episode of Your Thoughts, Your Reality, Michael Cole sits down with Laura Ollinger, a teen and parent well-being coach, motivational yo...

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What happens when the uniform comes off—but part of you still needs that chapter of your life to be seen?

And what happens when people do not even recognize that you were the one who served?

For many veterans, transition is not simply about leaving the military. It is about deciding what parts of service you carry forward, what parts you release, and how you build a new identity without pretending that the person you were no longer matters.

For women veterans, there can be...

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What happens when the rank comes off?

When the title disappears, the structure changes, and the position that helped define you for decades suddenly belongs to someone else?

For many veterans and leaders, transition is not simply about finding another job. It can force a much deeper question:

Who am I when the authority, recognition, and identity attached to my role are gone?

In this episode of Your Thoughts, Your Reality, Michael Cole sits down with Neco Johnson, a retired U.S. Air...

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When was the last time you genuinely couldn’t wait for tomorrow?

For many veterans, leaders, parents, and high performers, there comes a point when life starts feeling more like routine than anticipation. The career changes. The kids grow up. The old mission ends. The days keep moving—but the question quietly becomes:

What am I actually looking forward to now?

In this episode of Your Thoughts, Your Reality, Michael Cole sits down with his friend Marcus Weiss—actor, director, producer, Joy Empowerment Coach...

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What are you chasing now?

For veterans and high performers, finishing one mission can create an uncomfortable question:

What’s next?

Another challenge can keep us moving. Another title can keep us busy. Another goal can give us something to pursue.

But movement is not always purpose.

In this episode of Your Thoughts, Your Reality, Michael Cole sits down with Tony Medrano, a former U.S. Navy Surface Warfare Officer who served aboard a guided missile destroyer, went on to Stanford Bu...

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What do you want your life to stand for?

Not someday.
 Not only after you are gone.
 But through the way you choose to live right now.

In this episode of Your Thoughts, Your Reality, Michael Cole sits down with Nancy Jones, a coach, speaker, leadership mentor, and Dual Elite Certified Neuroencoding Specialist with decades of experience in education, leadership development, and personal transformation.

As the mother of two sons who have served as first responders—one as a wildland firefighter and the other as a po...

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Who gets to decide what you are worth?

For many veterans, leaders, and high performers, value becomes connected to results, recognition, productivity, and being the person everyone depends on.

But when the role changes, the achievement loses its meaning, or success stops feeling fulfilling, a deeper question emerges:

Do I still know my value when I am not proving it?

In this episode of Your Thoughts, Your Reality, Michael Cole sits down with Dominika Staniewicz—also known as Coach D—a leadership coach, spea...

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Have you ever felt like life was happening to you instead of for you?

For many veterans, first responders, and families, trauma does not remain in the past. It can change how the present feels—leaving someone anxious, disconnected, constantly on guard, or determined to control everything around them just to feel safe.

In this episode of Your Thoughts, Your Reality, Michael Cole sits down with Michelle Strigotte, a licensed professional counselor and founder of Serene Integrative Services in Post Falls, Idaho.

Michelle grew up with an Ar...

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What is really stopping you from moving forward?

For veterans, leaders, and high performers, fear does not always look like fear. Sometimes it looks like anger, avoidance, perfectionism, isolation, overworking, or shutting down before life has the chance to hurt us again.

In this episode of Your Thoughts, Your Reality, Michael Cole sits down with Lauri Clontz, founder of Start Driving Your Destiny, a transformational movement helping people stop living on autopilot and begin creating their lives with greater clarity, confidence, and purpose.

After spending...

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What if the answer to disconnection is not becoming tougher, more guarded, or more independent?

What if the bridge back—to ourselves, to one another, and to a greater sense of meaning—is caring?

In this episode of Your Thoughts, Your Reality, Michael Cole sits down with Dr. Tony Nader, a medical doctor, neuroscientist, consciousness researcher, New York Times bestselling author, and global leader of the Transcendental Meditation organizations.

Trained at Harvard Medical School with a Ph.D. in Brain and Cognitive Sciences from MIT, Dr. Nader has...

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What are you working toward now?

For many veterans, families, first responders, and high performers, the next mission isn't about accomplishing more.

Sometimes...

The mission begins with healing.

In this episode of Your Thoughts, Your Reality, Michael Cole sits down with Rebecca McCord, a vagus nerve activation and gut health coach whose mission is helping people improve their mental and physical well-being by supporting the body's natural ability to heal.

Inspired by her grandfather's service during World War II, Rebecca has become passionate...

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What are you working toward now?

And is your health helping you get there… or holding you back?

For many veterans, leaders, and high performers, health becomes something we promise ourselves we'll focus on later—after the work is done, after the mission is complete, after everyone else has been taken care of.

But what if taking care of yourself isn't a distraction from your mission?

What if it's what makes your mission possible?

In this episode of Your Thoughts, Your Reality, Michael Cole...

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Have you ever felt so overwhelmed by a big goal that you didn't know where to start?

For many veterans, leaders, women, and high performers, the pressure to have the entire plan figured out becomes the very thing that keeps them from taking the first step.

In this episode of Your Thoughts, Your Reality, Michael Cole sits down with Christine Belviy Keller, speaker, coach, and advocate for intentional living, whose passion is helping people move beyond fear, uncertainty, and self-doubt by focusing on what they can do today—not so...

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What if the strongest thing you could ever do... is admit you're not okay?

For many veterans, leaders, first responders, and high performers, strength becomes the armor they wear. They keep leading, keep producing, keep showing up for everyone else—while silently carrying battles no one else can see. But eventually, the weight of that armor becomes too heavy to carry alone.

In this powerful episode of Your Thoughts, Your Reality, Mike Cole sits down with Omar Ritter—West Point graduate, combat veteran, Bronze Star recipient, entrepreneur, and...

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Who are you when the title is gone, the uniform comes off, or the role you've always identified with no longer defines you?

For many veterans, leaders, entrepreneurs, and high performers, self-worth quietly becomes tied to what they do instead of who they are. When that chapter ends, it can leave behind one of life's most difficult questions: Do I still matter?

In this powerful episode of Your Thoughts, Your Reality, Mike Cole sits down with Aaron Lloyd to explore Self-Worth—the Sixth Silent War. To...

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Who are you without the label?

Not the role.
 Not the title.
 Not the body image story.
 Not the version of yourself you’ve been trying so hard to maintain.

In this episode of Your Thoughts, Your Reality, Michael Cole sits down with Yayoi Komiyama, founder of Brain to Belly Coaching, Dual Elite Neuroencoding Specialist, life transformation strategist, brain health trainer, best-selling author, and host of the podcast I’ll Start on Monday.

Yayoi brings more than 20 years of experience in the wellness industry and hel...

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Who are you beneath the armor?

Not the title.
 Not the role.
 Not the version of yourself you became in order to survive.

In this episode of Your Thoughts, Your Reality, Michael Cole sits down with Dr. Stephen Crawford, a keynote speaker, leadership coach, best-selling author, and powerful voice in personal transformation.

Raised on the South Side of Chicago, Stephen brings a grounded and deeply human perspective on resilience, identity, communication, self-leadership, and what it means to stop performing who you think you have to be...

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How much of your life are you living because it’s truly yours?

And how much of it are you living because somewhere along the way, you were taught you had to?

In this episode of Your Thoughts, Your Reality, Michael Cole sits down with Cindy Gould, a transformation coach, speaker, joy catalyst, and Dual Elite Certified Neuroencoding Specialist who helps people create meaningful change from the inside out.

Cindy is the voice behind Create Your Victorious Life and The Remembering, where she helps people reconnect with tr...

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What do you want your life to stand for?

Not just professionally.
 Not just financially.
 But as a human being.

In this episode of Your Thoughts, Your Reality, Michael Cole sits down with Joe Gionti, founder of Canine Heroes for Heroes, a nonprofit providing service dogs to veterans and first responders at no cost to them.

Joe’s mission was born from a deep respect for those who serve, a desire to give back, and the realization that purpose is not always about what...

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Who are you… when the rank, title, and mission are no longer defining you?

For many veterans, that question doesn’t come with an easy answer.

In this episode of Your Thoughts, Your Reality, Michael Cole sits down with Cathy and Robert Casteel, both military veterans and Certified Neuro-Transformational Coaches™, who have dedicated their lives to helping others break free from limiting beliefs and rediscover who they truly are after service.

After years of structure, identity, and purpose within the military, transition can leave many feeling lost, uncert...

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What if the reason you keep falling off track… isn’t a lack of discipline?

What if it’s because you don’t have a system?

In this episode of Your Thoughts, Your Reality, Michael Cole sits down with Danny O’Neel, a U.S. Army veteran who made the life-changing decision to enlist on 9/11—stepping into service during one of the most pivotal moments in modern history.

After years of military structure and the challenges of reintegration, Danny developed a deep understanding of what it really takes to sta...

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What if the reason you feel stuck… isn’t your situation—but how you’re showing up in it?

In this episode of Your Thoughts, Your Reality, Michael Cole sits down with Tina Parker, a retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel and transformational coach who helps individuals shift from reactivity into intentional, empowered living.

After leading at high levels in the military, Tina now focuses on something most people overlook—learning how to lead yourself first.

Together, Mike and Tina break down what it really means to step into your...

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What happens when the structure that once kept you disciplined… disappears?

For a lot of veterans, athletes, and high performers, the real challenge isn’t discipline—it’s what happens when no one is there to enforce it. When the schedule is gone, the expectations are gone, and suddenly… it’s all on you.

In this episode of Your Thoughts, Your Reality, Mike Cole sits down with Dre Baldwin—former professional basketball player and creator of the “Work On Your Game” philosophy.

Dre shares how he went from walking on at...

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What happens when trauma doesn’t stay in the moment…
 but follows you home?

In this episode of Your Thoughts, Your Reality, Michael Cole sits down with Dennis Booker, a first responder with over 23 years of experience in emergency medicine, serving as a firefighter, EMS responder, and trauma team member at a Level 1 trauma center.

Dennis has witnessed the darkest moments of human life—violence, loss, and suffering that most people will never see. But what makes this conversation different is not just what he’s experienced… it’s what those...

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What happens when the structure, identity, and mission that once defined your life are suddenly gone?

For many veterans, the real battle begins after the uniform comes off.

In this episode of Your Thoughts, Your Reality, Michael Cole sits down with Kaedy Molley, a former U.S. Navy linguist and aircrewman who served for 10 years before navigating one of the most challenging transitions veterans face—rediscovering identity and purpose in the civilian world.

Kaedy shares her powerful journey from military service to higher education at the University of...

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Control doesn’t come from strength. It comes from fear.

The fear of not being understood.
 The fear of things falling apart.
 The fear of losing connection… so we try to control it.

And without realizing it, we start fixing, pushing, and “helping”—calling it love… while the people closest to us feel managed instead of met.

In this episode of Your Thoughts, Your Reality, I sit down with Veenu Keller, parent coach and child behavioral specialist, to break down one of the most overlooked Silent Wars we...

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What happens when the orders stop and the choices start? We sit down with retired Marine Corps Gunnery Sergeant Brenda Warren to map the real-life shift from military structure to civilian autonomy—without losing the strengths that make veterans exceptional. From the first-day shock of a civilian workplace to the powerful reframe of “this is a mission, not a struggle,” we unpack the mindset, language, and habits that turn hard-won discipline into everyday success.

Brenda shares candid stories, including the mentor who taught her to translate urgency into influence and the moment...

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What if peace isn’t a place you find but a skill you practice every day? Mike sits down with joy empowerment coach and Neuroencoding specialist Marcus Weiss to unpack how stress becomes a default and how simple, repeatable tools can reset your mind and body toward calm, clarity, and connection. Marcus gets real about years spent waking to tension and going to bed in relief, and the moment a mentor’s practical guidance worked in real time. That spark led to a new baseline: choosing intention, interrupting patterns, and building reps that turn...

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The quiet of midlife can be loud. When the calendar eases and the chaos fades, old wounds often step forward, and for veterans and their families that shift can feel like a tidal pull. We sit down with healer and mentor Dianna Sullivan to unpack why trauma often resurfaces when life finally feels safe, how the nervous system signals it’s ready to process, and what practical steps actually move you from numbness to momentum.

Dianna shares her path from a controlling, abusive relationship to a purpose-led practice that blends coaching, Ne...