Power is knowing you could respond and deciding the response is beneath the objective.

Being able to retaliate and choosing not to is a completely different thing from being unable to. The first is a decision made with your objective in view; the second is just a limitation. Most reactions feel necessary in the moment and cost more than they return, spending your standing on a satisfaction that lasts about an hour. Restraint is only powerful when it is genuinely a choice.

When you are provoked, ask what you are actually trying to achieve and whether the response moves you toward it. If not, let it go on purpose rather than out of avoidance. Say the decision to yourself clearly so that you know it was one.