I'd say the only way to deal with negative people is to get more time with positive people.

Our brains absorb all the stuff from our surroundings and adding positivism from other people acts like a buffer against the negativism.

Also, the 3 C's of AA / Al-Anon are important to remember:

- we can't change them
- we can't control them
(there's a third one, but my brain has shut down for the moment. I'm sure someone can remember it....)

jw