it all began with a prickling and my
thumbs and fingers of my right hand in
my head I felt the sensation of a
circuit breaker popping I felt
disconnected from my body it was very
interesting and yet something was not
right at one point I remember thinking I
can’t make this stop why can’t I make
this stop
whatever was happening was running its
own course I had absolutely no control
and now now I’m terrified just the week
before I had been in Michigan sitting at
the dining room table of my dear friend
Jenny
we were just talking and I said Jenny I
don’t know why I’m feeling this way
I just feel dull and I can’t believe
that this is the way the rest of my life
is supposed to feel I just wish there
was a way I could tweak just a little
bit the way that I see and the way that
I think about things I know it would be
better but I just don’t know how to do
that my wish soon came true seven days
later on July 24th 2010 I’m in a
hospital bed alone and pondering the
nature of my new reality looking at a
wall that I knew should be straight and
it wasn’t it was bent and arching over
me there earlier heightened sense of
alarm and panic in the busy er had now
now no I’m just afraid I’m afraid to go
to sleep I’m afraid at night might not
wake up I knew at that moment I had a
choice to make going forward not knowing
if my life would ever be the same again
I could be a cranky pants and wonder why
me
or I could dig deep and face whatever
was coming head-on or as a friend more
succinctly stated I could be cold wet
and miserable or I could just be cold
and wet and with that I was able to let
go and fall asleep
I just experienced in the early evening
of that day upon the stroke the pons is
a bit of conducting tissue and upper
part of the brainstem
it’s bridge and mayor hours before and
to meet the North had upon in the days
[Music]
I felt I had to leave you in the
hospital
I read the phrase good thoughts and it
resonated with words matter they have
the power to shape our reality what
words am i choosing to use to narrate
for the internal narration of my days I
have to wash the dog or I get to wash
the dog either way
the dog is stinky and needs a bath which
way sounds like more fun is what I’ve
been thinking about doing is it going to
hurt someone
or is it going to help someone these are
simple questions to ask of ourselves I
first started choosing not to whine not
to complain or excessively judge myself
or others how does any of that help a
situation it doesn’t and there’s so much
that needs to be done in our world there
is so much that we can complain about
and it can be overwhelming now instead
of being overwhelmed I asked myself what
can I do
unless I can do something about it and
I’m willing to do something about it I
choose to let it go and just making that
simple change
freed up a lot of my mind space to focus
on what I can do it gave me peace of
mind a simple operating system soon
enough it became automatic a habit these
words say good do good be good have
followed me and I felt driven to do
something with them but what then
driving with my family to Sacramento to
spend Thanksgiving with everybody in my
showcasing a beautiful black friendly
script the word guns along with
silhouettes of various semi-automatic
weapons I was triggered as my son would
say ranting to my husband for the next
20 miles imagine every day someone
writing to and from work sees that sign
it plants a seed it puts an idea in
their head and the more they see it the
more it grows and the more they’re
accepting of it and comfortable with it
and slowly it becomes another idea that
sign should say say good do good be good
so every day those words become
imprinted in our great unconscious mind
and I’m willing to bet that every single
one of us in this room no matter what
your background or beliefs is an
agreement with these six simple words
they are powerful and they need no
explanation a preschooler understands
them and a neurosurgeon understands them
say good do good be good they give us a
common ground a foundation in the belief
of good an opening to talk and some
we can all agree on these words say good
do good be good have the power to unite
us so after that rant to my husband I
whip out my phone and I start
researching the cost of a billboard
rental holy Mac a doodle it is expensive
all right take it down a level how about
an ad in the newspaper nope still not
affordable I’m yelling in my head this
is not fair jumping right back into the
land of cold wet and miserable and yet
again words for my dad came to my head
Lily life is not fair what am I going to
do
and it came to me one night as I was
drifting off to sleep and that in
between space between being awake and
sleeping that space were so many good
ideas make themselves known I know I
know I am going to make little rocks out
of clay and stand into them the words
say good do good be good and then I’m
gonna scatter them around town for
people to find little treasures tucking
them into nooks and crannies hiding in
plain sight I was giddy with a thought
of it personal pocket-sized billboards
[Laughter]
I could not wait to get my hands into
the clay and I know some of you are
probably thinking why did she just use
social media and I will tell you first
long as I can remember I’ve collected
rocks I love the beauty of them I love
how they feel my hands I love love how
each one is different and I also love
clay I love its coolness and its
heaviness I love how you can mold it and
squash it and remould it it’s solid so I
drew on what I loved what made me and
continues to make me happy I drew on
this to create a solution that was
unique to me and what I do with these
stones is I look for good I look for
ways to connect with good and someone
when someone is being nice or I feel
someone is nice I dig into my bag
looking for a stone and I offer it it’s
an offering to connect each lily stone
has a story and I’d like to share one
with you this is the story of Dennis
about a month ago my husband and I were
in a coffee shop waiting for our drinks
to come up and I noticed a man looking
at his phone and he just had just the
sparkle around him he was radiating good
like oh I gotta give him a stone so I go
rummaging in my bag and I pull one out I
thought I really need to let him know
that he has touched my heart so I walk
over to him and I say hi my name is Lily
and I make these little stones out of
clay and I give them to nice people and
I think you’re a nice
and he just smiled and said thank you
and he said you just made my day as I
handed him his stone and he said and I
told him well you just made mine and
then I kind of backed away and I noticed
him looking at the little rock just
turning it in his hands and I could see
that it meant something to him as he
took out his phone to take a photo so I
kind of go back up to him again and I
say each one of these I make by my hand
and they’re all made with the same basic
material clay and glaze but each one is
a little bit different and the process
is the same I mold it and then it gets
fired but each is still a little
different and if you turn it over on the
back there’s a number they all have the
same words say good do good be good it’s
really pretty simple
and he said matter-of-factly yes it is I
asked what’s your name and he said Deniz
and then I asked him if I could have
take a photo of him with the lily stone
and he said sure and then he hesitated
for a second and he said well what about
and I said oh he was wearing a Steelers
hat and a Steelers jacket and I just
laughed I’m like I don’t care what team
you like and he just laughed and smiled
and I took the photo and then we hugged
I’m not sure I’ll probably will never
see Dennis again but he’s here I’ll
never forget him and then I skip walk
back to my husband
and I sat down next to him and he looked
at me and he said Lily that just made my
day
and Dennis left the shop with a little
good is a feeling and feeling spread
I envisioned it like this
my little whiteboard here the circles
are you and me and see we have empty
negative spaces some of the circles are
touching some are overlapping and some
not at all we have a choice what to put
into these empty negative spaces this is
where we put good and beauty this is
where I put my lily stones I believe we
are all born to to feel to create and to
connect to use the good each and every
one of us was born with our job is to
uncover the good that is within us all
and to share it and to look for it in
others what is that thing that burbles
up from your chest and into your throat
so that you can barely get a word out
and it makes you spontaneously clap your
hands do that ask yourself in any given
situation how can I make this better
what is the good I have to offer you
will come up with your own beautiful
solution based on what you love and what
makes you happy
maybe it has to do with spreadsheets or
building a website or building a bridge
research nurturing I only you know in
your heart of hearts we each have an
opportunity to put our own unique good
into those spaces and when we do we can
close the gap that we perceive is
between us we can create and us each and
every one of us has a story a once upon
a time
a beginning a middle and an end with our
own defining moments the actual moment
of my stroke could be thought of as one
sentence a clot formed in my body and
blocked the flow of blood in my brain
that’s it yet the repercussions of that
miniscule blockage have changed the
course of my life what I have ever
imagined
that at 50 something I’d be if he making
little rocks out of clay and handing
them out to nice people I know and yet
here I am doing the best I can with what
I have and sharing it my wish came true
not in any way I could have ever
imagined I do see things differently now
I am no longer disconnected from myself
the dullness is gone I’m engaged with
the world around me I am connected and
for this I am grateful each of you has a
lily stone that you were given today
with your name tag if you could please
hold it out and pull it out and hold on
to it you are now connected with over
2,000 people throughout this world who
also have found or have received a lily
that little stone that each of you is
holding I have made it with my hands my
fingerprints are fired into it I feel
and I am trusting you to hold a little
piece of me hold on to it
and share it that little rock is a
touchstone it is a trail marker it is a
cornerstone and a catalyst say good do
good be good an idea worth spreading
thank you [Applause]
thumbs and fingers of my right hand in
my head I felt the sensation of a
circuit breaker popping I felt
disconnected from my body it was very
interesting and yet something was not
right at one point I remember thinking I
can’t make this stop why can’t I make
this stop
whatever was happening was running its
own course I had absolutely no control
and now now I’m terrified just the week
before I had been in Michigan sitting at
the dining room table of my dear friend
Jenny
we were just talking and I said Jenny I
don’t know why I’m feeling this way
I just feel dull and I can’t believe
that this is the way the rest of my life
is supposed to feel I just wish there
was a way I could tweak just a little
bit the way that I see and the way that
I think about things I know it would be
better but I just don’t know how to do
that my wish soon came true seven days
later on July 24th 2010 I’m in a
hospital bed alone and pondering the
nature of my new reality looking at a
wall that I knew should be straight and
it wasn’t it was bent and arching over
me there earlier heightened sense of
alarm and panic in the busy er had now
now no I’m just afraid I’m afraid to go
to sleep I’m afraid at night might not
wake up I knew at that moment I had a
choice to make going forward not knowing
if my life would ever be the same again
I could be a cranky pants and wonder why
me
or I could dig deep and face whatever
was coming head-on or as a friend more
succinctly stated I could be cold wet
and miserable or I could just be cold
and wet and with that I was able to let
go and fall asleep
I just experienced in the early evening
of that day upon the stroke the pons is
a bit of conducting tissue and upper
part of the brainstem
it’s bridge and mayor hours before and
to meet the North had upon in the days
[Music]
I felt I had to leave you in the
hospital
I read the phrase good thoughts and it
resonated with words matter they have
the power to shape our reality what
words am i choosing to use to narrate
for the internal narration of my days I
have to wash the dog or I get to wash
the dog either way
the dog is stinky and needs a bath which
way sounds like more fun is what I’ve
been thinking about doing is it going to
hurt someone
or is it going to help someone these are
simple questions to ask of ourselves I
first started choosing not to whine not
to complain or excessively judge myself
or others how does any of that help a
situation it doesn’t and there’s so much
that needs to be done in our world there
is so much that we can complain about
and it can be overwhelming now instead
of being overwhelmed I asked myself what
can I do
unless I can do something about it and
I’m willing to do something about it I
choose to let it go and just making that
simple change
freed up a lot of my mind space to focus
on what I can do it gave me peace of
mind a simple operating system soon
enough it became automatic a habit these
words say good do good be good have
followed me and I felt driven to do
something with them but what then
driving with my family to Sacramento to
spend Thanksgiving with everybody in my
showcasing a beautiful black friendly
script the word guns along with
silhouettes of various semi-automatic
weapons I was triggered as my son would
say ranting to my husband for the next
20 miles imagine every day someone
writing to and from work sees that sign
it plants a seed it puts an idea in
their head and the more they see it the
more it grows and the more they’re
accepting of it and comfortable with it
and slowly it becomes another idea that
sign should say say good do good be good
so every day those words become
imprinted in our great unconscious mind
and I’m willing to bet that every single
one of us in this room no matter what
your background or beliefs is an
agreement with these six simple words
they are powerful and they need no
explanation a preschooler understands
them and a neurosurgeon understands them
say good do good be good they give us a
common ground a foundation in the belief
of good an opening to talk and some
we can all agree on these words say good
do good be good have the power to unite
us so after that rant to my husband I
whip out my phone and I start
researching the cost of a billboard
rental holy Mac a doodle it is expensive
all right take it down a level how about
an ad in the newspaper nope still not
affordable I’m yelling in my head this
is not fair jumping right back into the
land of cold wet and miserable and yet
again words for my dad came to my head
Lily life is not fair what am I going to
do
and it came to me one night as I was
drifting off to sleep and that in
between space between being awake and
sleeping that space were so many good
ideas make themselves known I know I
know I am going to make little rocks out
of clay and stand into them the words
say good do good be good and then I’m
gonna scatter them around town for
people to find little treasures tucking
them into nooks and crannies hiding in
plain sight I was giddy with a thought
of it personal pocket-sized billboards
[Laughter]
I could not wait to get my hands into
the clay and I know some of you are
probably thinking why did she just use
social media and I will tell you first
long as I can remember I’ve collected
rocks I love the beauty of them I love
how they feel my hands I love love how
each one is different and I also love
clay I love its coolness and its
heaviness I love how you can mold it and
squash it and remould it it’s solid so I
drew on what I loved what made me and
continues to make me happy I drew on
this to create a solution that was
unique to me and what I do with these
stones is I look for good I look for
ways to connect with good and someone
when someone is being nice or I feel
someone is nice I dig into my bag
looking for a stone and I offer it it’s
an offering to connect each lily stone
has a story and I’d like to share one
with you this is the story of Dennis
about a month ago my husband and I were
in a coffee shop waiting for our drinks
to come up and I noticed a man looking
at his phone and he just had just the
sparkle around him he was radiating good
like oh I gotta give him a stone so I go
rummaging in my bag and I pull one out I
thought I really need to let him know
that he has touched my heart so I walk
over to him and I say hi my name is Lily
and I make these little stones out of
clay and I give them to nice people and
I think you’re a nice
and he just smiled and said thank you
and he said you just made my day as I
handed him his stone and he said and I
told him well you just made mine and
then I kind of backed away and I noticed
him looking at the little rock just
turning it in his hands and I could see
that it meant something to him as he
took out his phone to take a photo so I
kind of go back up to him again and I
say each one of these I make by my hand
and they’re all made with the same basic
material clay and glaze but each one is
a little bit different and the process
is the same I mold it and then it gets
fired but each is still a little
different and if you turn it over on the
back there’s a number they all have the
same words say good do good be good it’s
really pretty simple
and he said matter-of-factly yes it is I
asked what’s your name and he said Deniz
and then I asked him if I could have
take a photo of him with the lily stone
and he said sure and then he hesitated
for a second and he said well what about
and I said oh he was wearing a Steelers
hat and a Steelers jacket and I just
laughed I’m like I don’t care what team
you like and he just laughed and smiled
and I took the photo and then we hugged
I’m not sure I’ll probably will never
see Dennis again but he’s here I’ll
never forget him and then I skip walk
back to my husband
and I sat down next to him and he looked
at me and he said Lily that just made my
day
and Dennis left the shop with a little
good is a feeling and feeling spread
I envisioned it like this
my little whiteboard here the circles
are you and me and see we have empty
negative spaces some of the circles are
touching some are overlapping and some
not at all we have a choice what to put
into these empty negative spaces this is
where we put good and beauty this is
where I put my lily stones I believe we
are all born to to feel to create and to
connect to use the good each and every
one of us was born with our job is to
uncover the good that is within us all
and to share it and to look for it in
others what is that thing that burbles
up from your chest and into your throat
so that you can barely get a word out
and it makes you spontaneously clap your
hands do that ask yourself in any given
situation how can I make this better
what is the good I have to offer you
will come up with your own beautiful
solution based on what you love and what
makes you happy
maybe it has to do with spreadsheets or
building a website or building a bridge
research nurturing I only you know in
your heart of hearts we each have an
opportunity to put our own unique good
into those spaces and when we do we can
close the gap that we perceive is
between us we can create and us each and
every one of us has a story a once upon
a time
a beginning a middle and an end with our
own defining moments the actual moment
of my stroke could be thought of as one
sentence a clot formed in my body and
blocked the flow of blood in my brain
that’s it yet the repercussions of that
miniscule blockage have changed the
course of my life what I have ever
imagined
that at 50 something I’d be if he making
little rocks out of clay and handing
them out to nice people I know and yet
here I am doing the best I can with what
I have and sharing it my wish came true
not in any way I could have ever
imagined I do see things differently now
I am no longer disconnected from myself
the dullness is gone I’m engaged with
the world around me I am connected and
for this I am grateful each of you has a
lily stone that you were given today
with your name tag if you could please
hold it out and pull it out and hold on
to it you are now connected with over
2,000 people throughout this world who
also have found or have received a lily
that little stone that each of you is
holding I have made it with my hands my
fingerprints are fired into it I feel
and I am trusting you to hold a little
piece of me hold on to it
and share it that little rock is a
touchstone it is a trail marker it is a
cornerstone and a catalyst say good do
good be good an idea worth spreading
thank you [Applause]
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