Say One Kind Thing Lessons in Acceptance, Love, and Letting Go

From #1 New York Times bestselling author and children’s yoga and mindfulness expert Susan Verde, Say One Kind Thing is an original essay collection, emphasizing the power of positive self-talk and the lessons we learn from motherhood and gaining self-acceptance.

Susan Verde knows the power of positive self-talk. For decades, Verde has struggled with her inner critic, a voice inside telling her that she was not enough. Yoga, meditation, and mindfulness practices became her way of challenging and quieting this voice. However, the moment she became a parent, the voice became louder than ever. How would she manage parenting three little ones when she could not speak to herself with compassion, kindness, and love? Motherhood would prove to be the ultimate test of her practice.

With humor, heart, and disarming vulnerability, Verde shares stories from her life as a parent, a child, a human, and a coffee addict on a journey toward self-acceptance. She reveals her missteps and her greatest moments of joy—from supporting one of her children through a mental health struggle, and another through gender affirmation; to losing her father and reconnecting with her mother; to the immense pain and pride of preparing to send her three teenagers off to college and facing an empty nest. Woven throughout Say One Kind Thing are mantras reminding readers to speak to themselves with compassion, with the ultimate goal of living, loving, and parenting from a place of freedom and authenticity. Verde’s message is that we must all be the authors of our own inner dictionaries, filling them with words of self-love. We must listen to the voice that is telling us that we are worthy. And we must let these words become our story.

Susan Verde is a #1 New York Times bestselling children’s book author, a former educator, and a children’s yoga and mindfulness expert. She has written more than twenty picture books and is a frequent contributor to online publications, and she has appeared on multiple podcasts about writing, parenting, mindfulness, and yoga. She is the mother of three teenagers, two cats, a dog, and a tarantula, and currently lives in East Hampton, New York.