Some people are simply negative people and that’s a fact. They are people filled to the brim with negativity that severely affects the people around them.
If you give it a thought, we all know difficult people who drain everyone around them. But how do you reach out to them with compassion without being sucked into their whirlpool of doom? Here are a few tips on dealing with difficult people with positivity.
- Avoid being judgmental or assumptive.
You cannot practice compassion if you know you have a person pegged into a slot. Even though it is unlikely that they will change their bad behavior overnight, people do change. And we have to give them the benefit of the doubt.
Even though you might not consciously do it, your thoughts will result in negative behavior. Someone who is filled with negativity is bound to mirror your actions. The simple thing to do is to expect the best and you might be pleasantly surprised by their change of heart.
- Dig deep, but stay out of the pit.
Positivity comes easier to those who place themselves in another’s shoes. Though that’s not an excuse for bad behavior but try to give the person an incentive to come over to the other side (maybe they are just waiting for it).
It may help to visualize them with compassionate feelings like: I understand where you are coming from. But I am trying to help you by not feeding the fire of negativity. This is tough love but it’s just so that they don’t bring you down with them.
- Outline a boundary of positivity.
Unreasonable people will just continue to pour out negativity if you let them. You may be tempted to indulge in psychobabble and reframe their situations positively. It’s just about raising self awareness and know that you can’t change someone’s complete way of being.
What you can do is practice effective communication. Listen compassionately for some time and then help them focus on something positive. No amount of solving or fixing can help such people – only being there and readjusting their lenses with which they look at the world.
