The first rule stepping up your luck is to look for variety. More variety willresult in a richer life with more opportunities. The more varied life is, the more likely that unexpected combinations of events will occur, giving us the chance to improve our situation. Being able to change is the best way tosurvive in changing, unpredictable times.
When we are searching for something, like a pair of lost eyeglasses, it isn't a good idea to always follow the same pattern of search. Searching for happiness islike that as well. Be flexible. Learn from your mistakes. Try lots of different possibilities.
Variety is necessary for happiness. No matter how rich our lives may seem, if they consist only of expected events and repetition, boredom steps in. We find pleasure in the unexpected and the surprising. Saying yes to uncertainty adds pleasure to life and contributes to our luck. Sometimes it seems easier, however, to use our strength to build walls to try to protect ourselves from uncertainty. We buy life insurance, household insurance, car insurance. We workhard and put money aside. But all this planning can't guarantee safety. We need to find the courage to welcome uncertainty.
Each of us should find one action that will increase variety: subscribe to a new magazine, take a different route to work, sign up for a night-school course. Then focus on its positive results. This positive reinforcement, together with the pleasure of sensing the power in doing what we want to, should give us the courage for the next act.
Accepting ourselves exactly as we are at this present moment provides the courage to move forward. Believing that all our choices in the past were the best we could have made at the time frees us from regret and reinforces our belief that we are asgood as we can be at this moment. The best preparation for the future isself-acceptance in the present. Self-acceptance and trust in people are the foundations of confidence and courage.
Self-acceptance, courage and action don't guarantee good luck, but they do guarantee a richer and fuller life.
1. From the text we learn that _____.
[A] variety guarantees happiness
[B] varied life relies on good luck
[C] opportunities go before variety
[D] adaptability is the key to survival
2. According to the text, to make life colorful we must _____.
[A] accept and try the unexpected
[B] tolerate boredom and repetition
[C] follow the same searching pattern
[D] make ourselves financially secure
3. According to the text, pleasure can be brought into life by _____.
[A] finding what we are searching for
[B] improving our situation with a bit luck
[C] strengthening ourselves to face uncertainty
[D] having insurance policies to protect our life
4. To gather courage to move forward, the writer thinks that we should _____.
[A] regret our past choices
[B] forget our past mistakes
[C] reinforce our past actions
[D] believe in our past decisions
5. The best title of the text would be _____.
[A] Stepping Up Your Luck
[B] Life Is Full of Uncertainties
[C] Variety Leads to Opportunities
[D] Learning from Your Mistakes
