Guarding Against the Negative

Recently I was witness to a Facebook pile-on.  You know what I'm talking about: somebody innocently posts a status and then others pile on with mocking and condescension. Have you ever been at the bottom of a big pile-on?  I think that one or two comments may have been a little humorous, but at some point somebody has to realize that the pile on is starting to cause some pain.

The end result was that several "friends" that just thought they were being funny, found themselves "unfriended" by the person that they were mocking/teasing/making fun of/ or whatever else you want to call it. The original owner of the post (now deleted along with the comments) said they were deleting those friends that continued to bring negative things into their life.

There have definitely been times that I made changes to guard myself (and my attitude) from the negative input of certain people.  When I started taking extra mid-shifts many years ago, the main reason I did it was to keep away from the office politics and labor/management stuff that goes on during the day/evening shifts.  Overall, I found that I was a much happier individual when I wasn't exposed to the negativity of others.

I know that we all need a safe place to vent from time to time.  I know that I can be as guilty as some about wanting to complain about circumstances or people. But don't you just find that some people are always dragging you down by their constant complaining or by always finding fault in others?

How do you guard yourself against the negative?

Sometimes you just can't avoid those people.  It may be your boss or co-worker, a neighbor, a family member--maybe even a person that considers you a friend because you're always there to listen to them.  The truth is--we all need that kind of friend.

And (for me) it's one thing to set aside time to meet with a friend and another thing to just be dumped on every time you encounter a person.  I gladly meet with friends that say "I really need somebody to talk to."  I know that we have issues that we need to be able to talk about.  That's way different than just being a fault finding, bitter, unpleasant person that people tend to want to avoid.

So, back to my question:

How do you guard yourself against the negative?

I'm interested in knowing your methods.  It may be of help to me or to other readers. Please be gracious and share.

John <><


 ⁸ Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. ⁹ Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

Philippians 4:8-9