Can You Shift?

It's likely fair to state that everyone in this world has a set of aversions- a list of paradigms we don't agree with, people we are impartial to, or ways of living we find no purpose in. From a personal standpoint I find that most of my aversions are due to things which I do not understand or have formed strong feelings against. What troubles me is that aversions influence us to dismiss, argue, or avoid. I may dismiss the comment of someone whose opinions differ from my own, I may argue why how I choose to live is a more "appropriate" way, or I may avoid confronting situations to where I can almost forget they even exists.

My question then becomes, are we going to seclude ourselves into lives of only things we are familiar with, people that we agree with, and paradigms we resonate with? What sort of segregation does this create in the world? Is there not some way to have respect for difference even if no common ground is found?

My challenge is, can we shift? Can we shift our perspectives from things we once had aversions to so that the aversions themselves become opportunities for us to practice understanding, compassion, and acceptance? Can we take a second look at our negative associations and realize we may just have a misunderstanding? Can we learn to respect individuality to an extent that our "enemies" become no less than fellow human beings facing the same challenges as we in this embodied life?