Good with the bad

"There is no winter harsh enough to withhold the promise of spring." Karen Kaiser Clarke.

Part of being human, it seems to me, is to have bad experiences.  Of course, if we could attain the level Buddha is said to have obtained, we would not judge experiences as either good or bad -- we would avoid that kind of aversion and attachment.  But, humans that we are, we are likely to have some experiences that we would prefer not to have. 
Misunderstandings, words spoken harshly, feelings of being left out or over looked, misinformation, agreements not honored:  all of these are part of human interactions.  Especially when we do not know each other well enough to guess at the intentions of the other.  So, what do we do with all of these opportunities to misunderstand and perhaps offend?  First, I think it is important to know some misunderstandings are inevitable.  They are not personal.  We cannot know what issues the other person is dealing with that may cause the misunderstanding. 

My rule of thumb is:  acknowledge the misunderstanding, apologize for any hurt I may have caused, and move on.  I can only be responsible for my own actions; not the reactions of others.