Solutions - on how to deal with negative people

by Hema
(India)

Hello
First of all I think I have a lot of negative people in my own family and would like to know how to tackle this.
For years now they have always said negative things about me and my daughters. One way of warding off this is to not to react. However some times it becomes too difficult to tolerate so I start defending myself and validating myself. I would like to have your comments or suggestions on a better approach to managing these negative people in my life.After the episode I normally feel that I should have said something and guess what I normally don't say anything can someone tell me how to react without being rude.
Yes, I have read all the reasons why people are negative and where this is coming from but I would also like to have some solutions.

Thanks so much for hearing me out
Hema