As strange as it may seem, loving-kindness can be particularly effective in anger-provoking situations. By learning to soften toward others, you can learn to meet anger with kindness.

1. Bring to mind a situation where someone acted out in anger. Maybe it was a coworker who told your boss that you'd done a sloppy job on your last project. Notice any feelings that this brings up in you.

2. Do you want to lash out at her? Do you feel the urge to remind him of all of his faults and all of the ways he's let the company down in the past? Let these feelings arise and, like clouds in the sky of your emotions, let them pass.

3. Find a place within yourself where you can remember you can remember that meeting anger with anger only creates more anger. You can say to yourself, "You offer me your anger. I don't accept it. The anger still belongs to you."

4. Feel the anger coming toward you and let it slide off, like water over your skin. Let it pool around your feet and evaporate with the heat of the sun.

If you meet anger with kindness, the kindness gives the anger no avenue to travel down, and anger is then left lost and alone, wandering the streets looking for a vessel in which to lodge itself. Don't let yourself be that vessel.