I AM looking at an egg.

It is a very large egg, with a door in it.

I walk through the door of the egg and close it behind me. The walls are transparent, but extremely thick, so any negative thoughts emanating from the people around me can’t reach me - they are bouncing off the rubber-like, eggy walls….

This is one of the ways, according to life coach Anne Jones, in which you can protect yourself from irritating, negative people, whether it’s at home or at work.

(Not looking at anyone in particular. Honest.)

The rest appear to involve lots of spraying (peppermint oils, frankincense, that sort of thing); sweeping (your hands over your body and head and, er, energy field); and my favourite, de-cluttering.

There is nothing, NOTHING, as satisfying as clearing out a cupboard or sorting out piles of old photographs into albums and frames and, generally, smaller piles; or tipping out a messy drawer and organising it into colour co-ordinated sections….no? Just me, then.

But while it might be easy to dismiss most of the life coach/holistic helper/achievement facilitator/emotional unblocker claptrap as exactly that, Anne Jones has a point.

Jettisoning negativity and negative people from your life can be a useful first step to regaining confidence in yourself and overcoming some of life’s challenges and troubles.

In a world dominated by social media, haters get away with much, much more than they would face-to-face and the damage done to the recipient’s mental wellbeing is often substantial.

‘Celebrities’ have to deal with more than most and are generally full of advice on how to survive the trolls and stay sane (chief of which should probably be, ‘don’t become a celebrity’) but if you can’t just ‘shake it off, shake it off,’ like Taylor Swift, it’s important to seek support whether it’s online, at school, at work, or at home.

It’s all wrapped up in the notion of self-esteem, and how we feel about how we are treated by others. Even the most positive person can feel their happiness being chipped away occasionally, because of an unkind word.

My sons’ primary school carries out a lovely project with the primary seven pupils as they come to the end of their final year.

Each gets a piece of paper with their name written at the centre, which is then passed around their classmates.

Each pupil has to write one, positive word which describes the young person whose name is on the sheet.

I know a few parents who got a bit misty-eyed on reading their sons’ and daughters’ completed ‘personality maps’ - and I know many pupils who might not admit to it, but who keep the sheets for long after they have moved up to high school. A little positivity goes a long way.

Being surrounded by people who criticise us and complain about everything can be exhausting, so somehow you have to find the strength or support to ditch them.

After all, while finding ways to cope with negative vibes might be harder than just skooshing lavender air spray around your house, in the end, no-one ever felt worse because they got happy….