I have a simple practice that I use on both negative people I encounter in the real world, and negative thoughts I encounter in my personal fantasy world. As an adherent to the Integral Model I think that the best practices are the ones that work on all four quadrants (internal, external, singular, plural), all levels of development (egocentric, ethnocentric, worldcentric, kosmocentric), all lines of development (interpersonal, intrapersonal, self-defense, self-expression, empathic impulse, etc.), all states (gross, subtle, causal; waking, dreaming, deep-sleep; etc.), and all types (feminine/masculine, introvert/extrovert, nomo/hetero, etc.) simultaneously.
The practice is:
Smiling
A smile may not brighten the day of someone in a sour place, but it may. A smile may not release the negative energy I catch from someoen else, but it may. A smile may not promote interconnectedness, compassion and co-consideration, but it may.
Smiles are free and a very lazy approach to saving the world.
Whether it is physically less exhausting to smile than to glower, it is certainly beneficial, and thus there is something to this ancient exhortation to put aside negative emotions long enough to turn a frown upside down. In a 2002 study performed in Sweden, researchers confirmed what our grandmothers already knew: that people respond in kind to the facial expressions they encounter. Test subjects were shown photos of faces – some smiling and some frowning – and required to respond with their own smiles, frowns, and non-expressions as directed by those conducting the experiment. Researchers noted that while folks had an easy time frowning at what appeared to be frowning at them and smiling in reply to the photographed smiles, those being tested encountered difficulties when prompted to respond in an opposite manner to the expressions displayed in the images – they instinctively wanted to reflect what they’d been exposed to, answering smile for smile and frown for frown, and could not easily overcome this urge even when they were quite consciously trying to.
Because we humans are wired to instinctively respond like for like, facial expressions are contagious. When taken, the homily’s implied advice to put on a happy face does work to benefit society in that smiling people cause those around them to smile.
Yet smiling is not just good for the community in which the sad sack or grouch lives; it is also beneficial to the person doing the grinning. Facial expressions do not merely signal what one feels but actually contribute to that feeling. If we smile even when we don’t feel like it, our mood will elevate despite ourselves. Likewise, faking a frown brings on a sense of not much liking the world that day.
Smiling works both towards negative people in the external ream, and negative thoughts in the internal realm.
For people it may cause them to let go of some negativity by causing them to reflexively smile. It will definitely cause you to let go of some of the contagious negative energy.
For thoughts it is even more effective. It automatically points out the fact that you are not your thoughts since you are choosing an incongruous reaction to them. You let go some of the negative energy, and you exert some measure of free will in choosing your own destiny. That’s both empowering and kind of funny.
So, smile damn it! Smile, or I’ll kick your ass! 
Tags: AQAL, Atma Vichara, Distinctions
