Breeding Negativity?

Not me- because that would be completely counterproductive- but some of the people around me.  I have a few people who are very dear to me who are so constantly negative that I often just want to shake them.  It is funny because I usually have one of two extreme reactions (depending on my mood) when I spend any time talking to them.  The first reaction is that I overdose on positivity.  I basically end up arguing them into admitting their life REALLY doesn't suck as much as they like to portray.  The other is that I listen, I apologize, I commisserate and I get off of the phone/IM/Skype as fast as humanly possible because inside I am getting so aggravated that I might say something that is not particularly nice.  It is exhausting to be around someone who is always negative.  It is draining.  Quite honestly- having worked so hard to banish that from my life- it makes me blatently ANGRY. 

I want to take them by the shoulders and shake them hard and yell that all of their negativity just invites more negativity into their lives.  I want to tell them:

• It is tiring to always hear about how awful you have it, how everything bad happens to you and how nothing is every right.  It is also demoralizing to see that you are not taking responsibility for the situations that you have created and are not working to change them. 
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• When you constantly talk about how everything bad always happens to you- you diminish all the good things that happen to you. 
• When you always focus on the pain you are in, be it physical, mental or emotional, you will not see that you have good days as well as bad and you will not feel the relief.
• When you talk about how people suck, people are mean, people are stupid- you discount all of the GOOD people in your life- and guess what?  That hurts.
• When you concentrate on everything that is bad in your life, when you fail to acknowledge all of your blessings- you make it seem as if none of those blessings are as important as your woes. 
• When you ALWAYS see what is WRONG in your life- it is a self fulfilling prophecy.  You. Will. Always. See. The. Bad. Things. In. Your. Life.  You need to STOP- look UP- and look for and embrace the people and things that are right, and good, and happy in your life.  If you do-you will invite MORE good, and right and happy things into your life.  And you deserve that.  We all deserve that. 

I wish I had the nerve to say these things to them, but they mean more to me than the sum of their misery.  Now that I have said it here- I can be grateful that I have left the drama and the chronic complaining behind me in my life.  I can be grateful that I can see how very blessed I am.  I can be grateful that I know that I have wonderful people, and blessings big and small in my life.  And I can only anticipate more.