Realize the lenses through which you view people and through which other people are viewed. I mentioned this about a year ago when I was doing what I'm doing now- job searching. I have to think not only about what I wear, but what I DON'T wear- rings for example. Or take drinking- I am judged by thee contemporary conservative Christians down the street as being a bad person simply because I drink. At all. Ever. It colors what they think of me before they meet me, and it colors their interpretation of my subsequent actions because they are viewing me as a person under the assumption that I'm a flawed person for drinking.

Look at how you do this to people though yourself- be it race, age, or otherwise. Realize how you always automatically interpret what your kids or your parents or your siblings or friends say, based on what you know about them and your past experiences with them. You don't give them the benefit of the doubt or the chance to mean something different. You spin the words that come out of their mouth into what you want to hear or expect to hear, and what they say takes on a whole new meaning that they may never have intended in the first place. This discussion could go many different directions to millions of examples.