Do you regularly interact with the chronically negative? Is there someone in your life who whines and moans and complains about everything, predicting doom and gloom around every corner, seeing dark clouds brooding in every silver lining? If you do, you don’t need me to tell you how draining it can be. But how can you protect your own happiness around such regular negativity?

I’ve collected 5 of the scariest words I know. These are words that are deadlier than they seem. Their poison infects the mind and turns the heart cold and fragile. So approach with caution and use sparingly. Remember, poison taken in small enough doses builds immunity to its lethal toxicity. But if taken in larger doses will kill you. So will these words.

Every action we take creates a ripple that undulates out into the larger currents of life. Each of the hundreds of daily decisions we sometimes only half-consciously make is the equivalent to the act of tossing pebbles in a pond. They splash and start ripples that quiver across the pools of life in ever-enlarging circles of influence. What kind of ripples are you making in life’s pond?