Be Open to New Ideas

善于接受新观念

Never stop learning and adapting. The world will always be changing. If you limit yourself to what you knew and what you were comfortable with earlier in your life, you will grow increasingly frustrated with your surroundings as you age.

不断学习，不断适应新事物。世界将不断变化，如果你只局限于自己以前所知并满足于以前的状态，随着时间的推移，你会逐渐对你周围的一切感到心灰意冷。

You would see him around town from time to time. People knew him only as Herb. He was always walking by the side of the road. People asked him why he was always walking, and Herb told them he didn’t believe in moving machines. Didn’t own a car, wouldn’t own a car, wouldn’t take a cab or a bus.

你会在镇上时不时地看到他。人们只知道他叫赫博，他总是沿着路边走。有人问他为什么总是在步行，赫博告诉他们，因为他不相信会移动的工具。他不曾拥有过小汽车，也不打算拥有，他也不会乘坐出租车或公交车。

Why? He said he got along just fine without them when he was younger, so why should he bother with them now? this belief provided him momentary comfort. He did not have to adapt, to face a change that he feared. However, he also shut himself off from everything that was not within a few miles of his house.

为什么会这样呢？赫博说他从小就没有这些东西，照样过得很好，所以为什么现在要为这些东西烦恼呢？这种观念给了他短暂的安慰，因此他无需去适应，去面对他所恐惧的变化，但是他将自己与自家周围几英里的现实隔绝开来。

The world might as well not have existed for him, as he could not directly experience anything outside of his hometown. Principles are valuable and should be cherished, but there is a difference between principle and stubborn practice. As time went on and the lives of his children led them to scatter across the country, Herb consigned himself to never being able to visit them because he refused to adapt to the world as it exists.

世界也许同样并不因他而存在，因为他不想亲身经历那些发生在家乡之外的任何事情。这一原则是有价值并值得珍惜的，但原则和固执行事是有区别的。随着时间的流逝，孩子们天各一方，赫博不愿到处去看望孩子们，因为他不愿意去适应已存在的现实世界。

In research on older Americans, what predicted satisfaction more than finances or the state of their current relationships was their willingness to adapt. If they were willing to change some of their habits and expectations, their happiness was maintained even when their circumstances changed. Those who were resistant to change, on the other hand, were less than one-third as likely to feel happy.

Clark, Carlson, Zemke, Gelya, Patterson, and Ennevor 1996

在对美国老年人所做的调查中显示：比起目前的经济状况和人际关系，愿意接受新事物 能使他们感到满足。假如他们愿意改变固有的习俗和期望，他们的幸福感不会因情况的变化而改变。另一方面，那些反对改变的人大概只有不足三分之一的人感到幸福。