Basim, >>>I want to find some way to give these people an empathy for what they're doing or, failing that, neutralize them - but I can't.<<< You could do a lot of different things. You could talk to them about how you feel, or you could give them dirty looks. I'm not sure how you want to approach the situation. You're welcome to email me off list if you'd like. >>>Needless to say, this sort of precludes working on the Spirit and Soul exercises.<<< I see this as a good reason to work on the Spirit and Soul exercises. As far as Step 1 is concerned, perhaps you could use the VOM exercise to somewhat free yourself of anger, or use the energy of your anger to fuel the exercise itself, and the Soul Mirror exercise to examine the nature of your anger. Does that seem possible? I hope you find what you're looking for :-) [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]