Tanya Wilson is an inspirational speaker and author living in Charlotte. Opinions expressed are solely her own. Follow her on twitter @Tanya360you or “friend” her on Facebook. You also may reach her at tw360you@aol.com.

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Tina Turner can’t be in her 70s! That was my reaction while looking at a recent report from Reuters. Tina was attending an Armani fashion debut in Milan in March and was looking absolutely fabulous. Add to that, amazingly youthful.

In my opinion, she looked younger than her beau, who is 16 years her junior. One of the reporters stopped and asked her, “How do you stay so young?” Tina simply said, “I enjoy life!”

I’m sure that the argument could be made that it can’t be hard to enjoy life when you are making the bank that she is. But reality is expressed in Ecclesiastes 3:12-13, which confirms that “life” is a gift from God to man. The verse reminds us that it is important that we be joyful and do good, and that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil. Powerful stuff!

It’s easy to fall into a rut of focusing on the negative and forgetting to embrace the joys that life offers in every situation. I know firsthand that my gratefulness and my commitment to holding on to my joy, even in times when I was holding on for dear life, have kept me.

I didn’t always get that. There was a time that I allowed every little thing to bind me. If it wasn’t a bill that had to be paid, or a diet I needed to stick to, or a person(s) that was getting on my last nerve, it was something else I was depositing my joy into.

Thankfully, I woke up and realized that my faith would see me through. And if I was claiming to practice faith, how then could I continue to allow myself not to enjoy the life that has been given to me.

I once told someone, “My life is nothing like ‘I’ planned it!” Well, imagine that. Me planning it was the problem. I failed during that time to seek the counsel of the One that knew me best and knew what my life was purposed for.

I can’t get those foolish years back, but I certainly can continue on the path that I am on and that is enjoying my life through every situation.

Each day there is something to be excited about. Our responsibility is to discover daily the joy that feeds our life. I am sure that things are not perfect in Tina’s world, not even now. Surviving all that she did in her very public relationship with Ike is common knowledge.

In this same article, Tina made the point when asked about Ike, “That is not my life anymore!”

So many times I meet people who are blocking their future holding on to the past. I call it marinating in the experience. If you survived it, you can be free from it. Yesterday’s news is old. If it didn’t work out with him or her, well, maybe you made an error in selection that time around. Doesn’t matter if the scale says you haven’t lost the weight that you intended, start over the next day and congratulate yourself that you can. So what if the job is not all that you want it to be, find happiness in still getting a check.

Happiness is a state of mind and a choice. We are entitled to be happy. Not only that, happiness can be contagious. Try surrounding yourself with happy people; you will be surprised how easy it will come for you.

The beauty industry is making billions on creams and oils for youthfulness. By my calculations, according to Tina, enjoying my life is free.

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