During the last few days, I heard a lot of negative stuff about a variety of things:

• About the city and the government – traffic is bad; roads are dirty; power failures don’t stop; the government is corrupt; business is down; inflation is up…
• About people – she is disorganized; he is slow; they are not ambitious; she doesn’t get it; he doesn’t listen; how can people be so insensitive…
• About future predictions – this country won’t make any progress; weather is only going to get worse; business will get tougher; you won’t understand…

It’s strange how some people have a mission in life – to spread gloom and pessimism. And how discussing any of this would help anyone. I wondered if there’s such a things as ‘brain mask’ that can protect you from the affects of negativity – like a face mask that protects you from catching germs. Here’s my strategy to deal with negative people, depending on the person and the situation:

1. Avoid them as much as possible. They can easily infect your thinking and feeling.
2. It’s not always possible or easy to avoid them. So if you do come in contact with a prophet of gloom, disinfect yourself quickly. Remind yourself of the good things in your life and be grateful.
3. Change the subject. Try to get the person to focus on something positive. Rarely works though.
4. Preach. Some useful questions to ask: ‘Is this a problem you can solve, or a situation you must accept?’ ‘If it’s a problem, what will you do about it?’ ‘If it’s a situation, when will you get used to it?’ ‘What do you expect?’

If you wouldn’t put garbage in your body, why would you allow anyone to put garbage in your mind?