***#MindfulMonday with Riley*** As you know, I read a lot. ..

***#MindfulMonday with Riley*** As you know, I read a lot. Well, I used to read a lot. I stopped for a while. And I'm back to reading a lot! One author I find fascinating is Mark Twain. You also know that I live by the saying "Find what feels good to you," as happiness is all that matters, as long as you do not harm any individual in the process. Well, on this Mindful Monday, all I wanted to do was share some of Mark Twain's life advice that you can find through his writings. I've associated one of his quotes with each point. I think those are fundamentals to living the happiest life we can. Many of them will sound ridiculously obvious, but I find it essential to remind us of even the basic things from time to time. We tend to get lost in work, family life, and drama. It doesn't hurt to remind ourselves of simple things, even more on a Monday. To whoever needs to hear this: if you're not happy right now, if you have to deal with some shit and drama, if you're heartbroken if you're at some point in your life where you need something good to happen... it WILL be okay. Take a deep breath. Inhale. Exhale. It will be fine. Better times are ahead. On that final note, here are my favorite 9 life tips by Mark Twain. **1. Approve of yourself.** “A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval.” **2. Your limitations may just be in your mind.** “Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.” **3. Lighten up and have some fun.** “Humor is mankind’s greatest blessing.” **4. Let go of anger.** “Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured.” **5. Release yourself from entitlement.** “Don’t go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing.It was here first.” **6. If you’re taking a different path, prepare for reactions.** “A person with a new idea is a crank until the idea succeeds.” **7. Keep your focus steadily on what you want.** “Drag your thoughts away from your troubles… by the ears, by the heels, or any other way you can manage it.” **8. Don’t focus so much on making yourself feel good.** “The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up.” **9. Do what you want to do.** “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did so. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”