FTS

When the internal critic tells you it's not enough.
When the naysayers tell you it can't be done.
There's really only one appropriate response (shouted at the ocean while pumping two middle fingers in the air or a quiet thought in your head, depending on the time or place)...

My daughter gave me this stamp for Christmas a few years ago (special order from Staples). You may borrow it when you need it. Love and hugs.

Storytelling Campaign

The Minority Male Mentoring (M3) storytelling campaign starts with a poster and one man's story about his journey to graduation. I want to wallpaper the world with these stories.

Recognize, Challenge & Change

"Cognitive restructuring is a technique that specifically focuses on cognition by teaching individuals to recognize, challenge, and change stress-inducing thoughts, attitudes, and beliefs in order to minimize unhealthy negative emotions such as anxiety, anger, and depression, and to minimize unhealthy thinking styles, such as pessimism while promoting health-enhancing mental states, including sense of control and optimism. Cognitive restructuring has become a core technique, along with the relaxation response, in mind–body medicine for reducing the effects of stress on a variety of medical conditions (Jacobs, 2001, p. 94)."

"In cognitive restructuring, teaching patients to alter negative, pessimistic thinking styles not only directly influences emotional states, including anxiety and depression, but in fact, improves...functions associated with depression, particularly appetite, sleep, and sexual activity (Jacobs, 2001, p. 95)."

Turning Poison to Medicine

"...hostility has been associated with increased coronary blockage, increased risk of heart attack, and increased risk of dying from all causes. Redford Williams, in research at Duke University on the relationship between hostility and heart disease, has shown that hostile men are seven times more likely to die within 25 years from any cause compared to less hostile men (Williams and Williams, 1993). In numerous studies assessing stress in the laboratory, stress has been shown to result in increased blood pressure, heart rate, and reduced blood flow to the heart (Jacobs, 2001, p. 86)."

synonyms for hostility: 

antagonism, unfriendliness, enmity, malevolence, malice, unkindness, rancor, venom, hatred, loathing, fighting, conflict, armed conflict, combat, aggression, warfare, war, violence 

Save yourself, brother-man. Release the anger and hang up your boxing gloves. Let your life lived well be your greatest "revenge."