Life loves to beat you down, but you have no obligation to help it do so by becoming involved with negative people. What makes it such a tricky issue is that some of the nicest people imaginable are often negative people as well, and the fact that they’re nice makes them potentially more dangerous than negative people who are mean-spirited.

Why? Because when it comes to the latter, you’re usually on guard, but it’s easy to become lax when you’re in the presence of a negative person who is pleasant.

It is therefore wise to put aside the nice-guy/bad-guy factor when it comes to evaluating negativity. Regardless of its source, the negativity virus is dangerous, because it can sneak up on you before you realize the impact it’s having on your thoughts. And by that time, the damage can be severe — and costly.

Always remember that you tend to become like the company you keep.