Staying Positive

Staying positive in a negative environment

It seems like a contradiction to say:
"contributing to a negative environment"
"spreading negativity"

"Negative" by its very definition implies absence, to take away.  How can you contribute or spread, which would imply "to add," when the nature of Negativity is "to take away."

What is being taken away?  Energy.

When we are negative we are struggling for energy.  We are taking away another person's energy.

Staying positive in a negative environment involves giving more energy...
But to keep giving of one's energy where there is a vacuum of negativity, is to work towards ones own self-destruction.  In the act of giving, one is losing one's energy, and therefore becoming negative by the act of losing energy.

So what recourse can we follow?  Is there no hope to remain positive in a negative environment?
It would seem that unless an individual can channel some sort of abundant supply of energy, the only solution would be to remove one's self from that environment.