Unfortunately we come into contact with negativity everyday. We can't avoid it. But we do not have to let ourselves be effected by it. So protect yourself from it.

If you travel to a foreign country, where you could possible catch a serious disease such as cholera, polio or malaria. Before you travel you get inoculated against it.

So how can you inoculate yourself against negativity?

Firstly, avoid as much media negativity as possible. Read newspapers and news channels that give you the facts, not hype and sensationalism. Avoid TV soaps. These programs are inclined to focus on the negative side of life. Watch educational programs, comedies, dramas and feel-good movies. Read books that stimulate your mind. All I am trying to say is avoid catching the negative disease as much as possible. Do not cut yourself off from the world just create a positive balance.

Secondly: Avoid, stop thinking and using negative thoughts.

Thoughts like:
. I know I can't.
. I hate doing that.
. I can't do that.
. I am not that lucky.
. It won't work.
. I never win.

Thirdly, avoid mixing with negative people. I know you can choose your friends but not your relatives, so you can't just go along and "boot out" your mother-in-law. But you can stop seeing friends with a negative attitude. I know it sounds drastic but truthfully these people are doing you harm. If you are positive about something a few choice negative words from these negative people could cause you to question your positive thought. In the worst case sinerio they could change your positive to a negative.

Fourthly, always try to answer a question with a positive statement.

For example: If you ask someone how they are feeling and they reply with a statement like. Oh OK I suppose. Come back with: Well, I feel great. If they start moaning about work and how bored they are. Say something like: Yes I know what you mean, but I have so many great ideas and I know that by this time next year I won't be working in a boring job.

Get the idea. When someone deals you a negative, hit them back with a positive. Practise this regularly; treat it as a game of cards. Every time you are dealt a negative, trump it with a positive. In the end you won't see it as a game, it will become second nature. You will be seen as Mr or Mrs Positive and will begin to attract people with the same positive attitude. These people will become your new friends and you will advance through life together.

If you look at all successful people. It could be in the field of sport, science or business. They all have one thing in common, they are positive. Success and happiness are not accidents that happen to some people and not to others. Success and happiness can be brought about by particular ways of behaving, which are in turn determined by our ways of thinking. In other word's it's not what happens to us that's important, but the way we choose to interpret it that shapes our lives. You cannot always change everything in your life immediately but you can certainly change the way that you perceive it.

Negativity is dangerous. It drags us down physically, mentally and emotionally. It is the single largest destroyer of success. Negativity will destroy creativity, relationships, advancement and ultimately, happiness. Entertaining negative thoughts, without any doubt, tends to bring on the person concerned the very things they fear or dread, or on which they have focussed their attention. Negative thoughts often arise from fear, or from insecurity, or as the result of some bad experiences, they bring gloom and a loss of quality of life.

The individual in this situation ceases to live; he or she becomes content with merely existing, with seeking his or her own animal comfort, which is really to wallow in self-pity. Life becomes an intolerable burden for the individual, and that person makes life intolerable for others. In severe depression even the body itself becomes unbearable. The environment seems grey and without colour and it seems to be something seen at great distance, having no contact with the individual and bringing no surge of joy at its beauty.

If you think positive thoughts, positive things will happen around you. Consequently if you continuously think negative thoughts, negative things will happen around you. If you believe you will not succeed. I can guarantee you will fail. If you believe you can achieve and succeed you will. Positive thinking is infectious and leads to a 'can do' attitude within any individual that adopts this approach to life.

Just consider this short statement for a moment. Whatever you think, you're right.

I once worked for possibly the most positive man I have ever met. He had a very positive attitude. He became highly educated and knowledgeable within his field. He always believed that he would live his dreams. After sometime as a successful salesman, he gained a junior management role and surrounded himself with positive thinking sales staff. There combined positive thinking made then a successful team. He consequently earned further promotion. Again he was successful and was rewarded with yet further promotion. Each time he was promoted he became responsible for more and more employees. By employing only positive thinking people he knew that he could only become more and more, and more successful himself.

He now holds a very senior position within a very large corporation. The business keeps growing and is going from strength to strength. You see the principle is easy. Think positive, surround yourself with positive energy and you cant fail.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Mark Claridge specializes in teaching motivational and self-development skills. Visit his site http://www.inthe6th.com/ In his new FREE e-book "Mindset and Match" he covers amongst other subjects how having the correct mindset can bring you all you want out of life and is available at http://www.mindsetandmatch.com/