Pema Chodron talks about anger, and how being provoked by the world helps us see our own blind spots, the places where we “get hooked.” :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7qFi52FX1Q
A central theme of her teachings is the Tibetan word shenpa, or how we get hooked. According to the Buddha, there is a certain amount of pain that is inevitable in life, such as growing old, sickness and being separated from someone we love very intensely. But on top of that is the suffering, which the Buddha explains how to get rid of. We will still die, get sick and be separated from others, but we can work with the suffering by stopping the momentum of shenpa.
"Somebody says a mean word to you and then something in you tightens — that's the shenpa. Then it starts to spiral into low self-esteem, or blaming them, or anger at them, denigrating yourself. And maybe if you have strong addictions, you just go right for your addiction to cover over the bad feeling that arose when that person said that mean word to you. This is a mean word that gets you, hooks you. Another mean word may not affect you but we're talking about where it touches that sore place — that's a shenpa. Someone criticizes you — they criticize your work, they criticize your appearance, they criticize your child — and, shenpa: almost co-arising."