Mea Culpa

Today a dear friend told me that I must stop expecting peolple to think like I do. He told me that maybe people are happy with the way they are and that I judge them through my standards making it impossible for me to be happy with someone. I will always try to bend them my way. Make them change so that they can suit me better. And u know what? He's right! Right on the Money! I started to think about the way I act with people. The first thing I do is try to make them change in a way that my comprehension can absorb them... Now what? It's in my structure. What I don't understand, I analyse in order to find those points that I disagree with and then I force my opinion on them. We discuss the disagreement and even if I just let it rest, which I do very seldom, I always think that they are wrong and I'm right. If the person means a lot to me, I try to put myself in their shoes in order to understand better... But there's a problem... I will never feel their understanding the same way beacuse we don't have the same mental structure. We don't have the same life experience... We see things in diferent perspectives... Now what? Do I just bury the hatchet? Throw in the towel? Hang up the gloves?
I can't!! It's not im me to take things as they come and just stay ignorante and not judge. How can I be of any use if I don't try to understand them? I've I been a bad friend,daughter,sister, lover all these years? Have I been that wrong all along? How can I understand their point of view if mine is diferent? Must I start my mental structure in another way? A clean slate? If so... How? Any sugestions anyone?