My negative thoughts come in the form of discouraging remarks made by my friends. I guess my issues are two problems fused into one: Negative thoughts and poor friendships. The thoughts can come as voices or little movies played in my head;and it's incessant. It could be of the past (previous interactions played differently to my liking) or of the future (potential conflicts that may happen purely out of worry and insecurity). A majority of these thoughts are imaginary yet are consistent with the real nature of my interactions with my friends.

You see, they're REALLY REALLY passive aggressive people. We don't have conversations anymore...it's all subtle put-downs, patronizing remarks, and antagonizing view-points. I must admit I've done/do that as well but only to a certain degree. I know when and when not to and it seems that at times (pretty much all the time lately) they just keep drilling me with undermining remarks.

I want to describe them to you so you'll have an idea of what I'm dealing with here. They are VERY VERY "cliquey." It's a close circle of friends. If you've ever gone to the mall and see 15-20 friends walking together, that's them (and we're 26-28yrs old for crying out loud!!). They talk about their friends and others behind their back. They knock the success of others. They glorify occupational status and look-down on anything less than their "standards." Judgemental as you can imagine and tend to alienate individuals for their differences. These are not all that they are...just the issues that I have with them. I know there is good in them but unfortunately for myself I just can't see too much of it at the moment...I'm too distraught.

We ALL know to not let this get to us but it's easier said than done. This ***** haunts my mind 24/7! I just can't seem to get past this. Because it's on my mind, I think I just attract more of this ***** to me (LOA...you know what I'm talking about). It's really put a dent in my ambitions, esteem, work, goals, you name it...The thoughts are so freaking clever too. Scenario: Negative thought(friends voice) pops up, I recognize it, Replace it with a positive thought or affirmation, then I hear my friends voice refute that. There are several other different scenarios but it's usually this back-and-forth type of battle in my mind.

Yes, I've read Peale's book among others along with countless articles and techniques that claim to stop negative thinking to little avail. So now that you know that my negative thoughts are fueled by real events, how can I effectively deal with them? In addition, what's the best way to confront my friends when they passively put me down? Do's & Don'ts? Anything...

Thanks for taking the time to read this. Any help will be sincerely appreciated.