Joy isn’t the same as happiness. Joy is a force from the inside of you that transforms who you are. Happiness is the feeling we get when a puppy waddles into the room and jumps on our lap. It’s a warm fuzzy but more external. It’s a reaction to good things happening to us.

We choose to be joyful. Joy is powerful and pushes darkness away. It lights up your life.

Life’s situations try to steal joy from you. When a car cuts you off in traffic, you have choices. Do you shout at the driver, even though they can’t hear you? (What’s the point?) Do you make a rude gesture with your hand? (Shame on you.) Do you grumble about it for the next five miles? (Again, what’s the point?)

Or do you decide to continue feeling joy, to ignore the incident?

I’ve learned that I can choose to be joyful. I can think joy and have joy. Again, it’s not from the outside; it’s not based on happy little things in your life like someone holding the door for you or finding a dollar (or more) beside the road. Focus on having joy in your life. People around you may focus on the negative but you can keep your focus on joy.

Challenge:The next time a negative situation or thought presents itself, say “No, thank you. I’m choosing joy.” Keep doing for a week then check to see if you have more joy in your life. You may be surprised.

“. . . for the joy of the LORD is your strength!” Neh 8:10 (NLT)

Do it.

If the dream seems too big, take it in small steps. Don’t have enough set aside for that trip to the City of Lights? Putting $50 or $100 in an account each month will have you crossing the Atlantic before too long.

I just turned 50 and feel like I have my whole life in front of me. Maybe it’s appropriate that my birthday was on Easter, the day we celebrate Jesus’ Resurrection. Here’s a wonderful quote from CS Lewis – “You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.”

I believe that the key to an awesome future is to dream. If we stay in the past, we never move forward into the future. Think about changes you’d like to make. If you enjoy your work, great! If not, what do you want to be when you grow up? It doesn’t matter if you’ve been an adult for decades, dream about the possibilities.

Dig deep and dust off the dreams you had. If they don’t stand up to today (you’ve probably passed the age of playing pro sports), create some new dreams. Where do you want to go? What do you want to do?

I’ve always liked this method from self-help guru Tony Robbins – his “Rocking Chair Test.” Picture yourself years in the future. You’re sitting on your front porch in a rocking chair (I don’t really see myself in a rocking chair but you get the point). Will you be happy if you did not do ________? If it made you sad to think you’d never learned to fly a helicopter (Tony went ahead and did this because of his test), go up the Amazon River or write a book, begin taking steps to do that today.

You can have new dreams and do bold things at any age.

These stories should inspire you if you’re thinking “I’m too old to __________.”

My husband’s 6^th grade teacher, in her 70s, moved to Florida from Tennessee and immediately took scuba diving lessons.

Former President George HW Bush went skydiving in 2009 to celebrate his 85^th birthday.

In 2007, at 95, Nola Ochs graduated from Fort Hays State University in Kansas.

When you meet someone like this or even see their photo, they don’t look “old.”  They look vibrant and alive.

Challenge: Take time in the next couple of days to come up with three dreams you’d like to make a reality in the future. Take a step toward making at least one of them come true.

Keep dreaming. You’re never too old.

“He fills my life with good things. My youth is renewed like the eagle’s!”  Psalm 103:5, New Living Translation

In November 2008, I was shopping for a dress for the company holiday party at this store. I searched the racks then headed for the dressing room, arms loaded with just about every holiday dress I saw in my size. When I returned a stack of black dresses to the dressing room’s holding rack, the clerk there asked about one of them. I told her it had fit but looked more suited to a funeral, not a party. She said – kindly – that I needed to dress my age.

My age? She’d laid down the gauntlet. At 48, I was young and intended to act it. Now, I wouldn’t have worn something like a short, short skirt except on a beach or in the privacy of my own home, but I didn’t want rules about “my age.”

The mirror revealed the story. I had mousy grey-brown hair, hadn’t plucked my eyebrows since Brooke Shields made that acceptable in what, the 80′s?, and generally only wore makeup for special events.

Not a pretty picture.

I found the perfect dress – at a chic store – then, the night before the party, had my hair colored. I’d never even had highlights before so this was a bold move. I really wanted to go red but since I’d been blonde as a child thought that was far safer with my coloring. The color went wrong in this exclusive salon, my very qualified beautician wasn’t sure why, and the blonde came out the color of brass. (Not brassy, brass.) New color with highlights on top – no charge – and the accident produced a red blonde color. I was now a sassy redhead and loving it. With eyebrows plucked and makeup ramped up, the new me was ready to meet the world.

For some reason, when we change our outside, it can have a profound effect about how we feel on the inside. I know I felt like a new person and went after life in a new way. (I’ll blog about this later but mention here that my life changes include a man, now my husband.)

Thank you little lady.

Challenge:Take a good look in the mirror. Have you made any changes lately? Is your hairstyle the same one you had when Bush #1 was president? The big question is: are you happy with what you see?

Change can be easy. And fun.