This is an extreme example but it has a point. I was once at a house party and the man who owned the house got into a fight with another man at the party and the owner of the house handed the other man his ass. I then walked the other man out of the house. On the way out he got angry and decided to headbutt me in the nose. It hurt but not that much and I decided not to retaliate. I simply asked the man to leave, which he did.
If I had retaliated another fight would have kicked off and the owner of the house may well have joined in, along with others. It would have escalated. Because I did not react the other man did not know what to do and left the house when I asked him to.
The point of this story is that the power in explosive situations is in not reacting. If someone is shouting at you or being aggressive towards you, give them nothing to react against and they lose their power and you retain yours. This simple principle can be used in a lot of different situations.
The Fullfilment Project 