THEME FOR 2022-2023:  Healing and Growing

UCM’s educational focus this year is on healing and growing, each month we will focus on a different aspect of wellness in the family service, in conversation after the service, and in spiritual exploration activities for children and youth. Monthly resources for all ages will be posted to our website. After our monthly family service, those interested will meet for 45 minutes to discuss the monthly topic for the year’s education focus on wellness.

The turmoil created by the Covid pandemic has unsettled all of us. Rising inflation, stagnating wages, intolerance for different identities, damage from weather extremes, increasing authoritarian and fascist elements in global politics are cause for concern. As the flight attendant says, in times of crisis “put on your own oxygen mask first”; we can’t help others unless we tend to our own well being too.

This year we want to create some space for us to heal and ground ourselves in self care and our common values. We cope better when we know deep down that we are capable and competent, that we are cared for, that we have people to turn to and safe places to be. Saskatchewan Elder Jim Dumont says “Wellness from an Indigenous perspective is a whole and healthy person expressed through a sense of balance of spirit, emotion, mind and body. Central to wellness is belief in one’s connection to language, land, beings of creation, and ancestry, supported by a caring family and environment.” We are well when we have healthy connections.

In the seasons to come we will be examining nine aspects of wellness, one each month. Each of us has our own experience and understanding of wellness. As we embark on this healing and growing year, remember that healing can be uncomfortable, like being itchy when skin is healing, to painful, like recovering after a car accident. There is necessary pain to get back to health. We are here to look after each other in the discomfort of healing so that we can also grow in resilience and well being. Healing and growing together will help us better respond to the personal and political challenges of today.

I encourage you each month to spend some time considering the wellness topic. Explore the resources on offer, talk to friends about the topic, spend time journalling, find a way to engage.

Use these questions each month as a starting point:

• • Is this an area of healing and/or growth for you? What do you need to heal? What do you want to learn?
  • What do you already do in this area to help your well being?  Are your old habits still working or do you need to change things up?
  • If there is fear or resistance or another negative response to the topic, dig a little deeper, what is bothering you? What is holding you back from engaging?

September 2022:     Good Learning
Intellectual Wellness is a hot topic, as we keep our minds sharp and learn how to distinguish fact from fake news and read media with a critical lens.

• • Twelve ways to boost your intellectual wellness
  • Tips for elders
  • DailyMom
  • Canadian non-profit focused on digital and media literacy:

October 2022: We are Better Together
Social Wellness means having a robust and supportive social group that offers a sense of secure belonging. This month we celebrate the value of community as places for healing and growing. Being human together is also challenging, it takes compassion and an ability to face discomfort and pain to create community.

• • A study from Toronto Public Health on social inclusion.
  • Cultivating Social Wellness
  • An On-Being interview: Community Organizing as a Spiritual Practice

November 2022: You are the Earth
Environmental Wellness is about having healthy connections to your surroundings.  It is seeing that your wellbeing is enhanced when your environment is also healthy – you feel better when your home reflects your character. It involves considering the interactions between your environment, your community, and yourself and working towards healthy experiences and a healthy planet. The core principle of environmental wellness is respect — respect for all nature and all species living in it.

• • Tips for Eco-Wellness
  • Why environmental wellness matters in the workplace
  • Environmental Wellness in practice in a community setting
  • A reflective essay on the concept of the environment and the human connection

December 2022: Loving Hearts
Developing Emotional Wellness means we are able to be vulnerable and open with loved ones, and can name and manage our feelings and handle conflict constructively. Emotional wellness is nurtured by healthy relationships and a sense of belonging to others, to place, to a religious tradition, to the earth. Having a healthy heart in this sense means we have the skills to navigate our emotions and have safe people and spaces we can turn to when we are struggling.

• • The Berkeley Wellness Institute offers twenty strategies to enhance emotional wellness.
  • From the website Medium, a short essay distinguishing feelings from emotions.
  • This Psychology Today article offers some guiding questions for insight into your emotional well-being.

January 2023: Abundant Life
Financial Wellness is a necessary evil in this time as we are so dependent on money to live. This month we explore how the way we think about money impacts our sense of abundance. Financial wellness is about being comfortable managing your finances, as well as being able to speak openly about money and its meaning. Our families shaped how we treat money and manage it, what stories did you learn? What values shape how you use money?

• • The Money Coaches offers a system of stages to understand financial well-being.
  • From the UUA Tapestry of Faith curriculum, The Wisdom Path, this page lists religious commentary about money.
  • This Forbes article explains why financial wellness is part of our over-all well-being.

February: Weaving the Web
Our well-being is interwoven into community health, which arises in systems that function well  and welcome diversity and difference. A system that is functioning in a way that allows people to thrive and focus on their tasks exhibits collective well-being. Being part of a healthy collective allows us to receive care and support, while offering the same to others. It can also mean individual needs and wants are less important than the needs of the whole, if the collective is to thrive.

• • A Yale Professor explains some criteria to assess collective well-being.
  • The Institute for Collective Well-Being offers many resources to review.
  • Our collective well-being depends on learning to de-colonize our behaviour.Hart House at the University of Toronto has a well-being initiative to support bipoc students.

March 2023: You are Whole and Holy
Part of UCM’s purpose is to help people deepen in spirit, to find life meaningful and develop a sense of connection to the greater whole. Developing Spiritual Wellness means we feel part of something bigger than ourselves, whether that is God, the universe or the mystery.  We know our core values and beliefs. Spiritual wellness helps sustain us on the days when we feel all alone, when life feels cold and closed down.

• • The U.S. Military offers helpful guidance on spiritual wellness.
  • The coaching service Better Up explores spiritual wellness and creativity.
  • Interested in exploring your spiritual landscape. Unity Consulting, a UU business, has created Spirit Map, a guide for individuals and congregations (available for a small fee). It is intended to help people explore their spiritual landscape, focus their spiritual practice, grow their spiritual presence, and deepen their spiritual well-being.

April 2023:  Good Bodies
Physical Wellness focuses on embodiment – on the joys of being in our bodies, moving in the world.  This is not just about getting enough rest and eating well, it is also about being attuned to your body, being aware of your physical needs and trusting your sensations. Being physically aware and present enhances our ability to connect with others and the earth.

• • Ontario libraries offer an overview of physical wellness.
  • How exercise can be fulfilling as a spiritual practice, from the website Wanderlust.
  • From the web magazine Psyche, an in-depth essay on learning to trust your body.

May 2023: Happy Minds
In our final theme, we look at Mental Wellness and caring for ourselves even when our brains are struggling with distorted thoughts caused by depression, anxiety or other illness. Mental well-being helps maintain our health and perspective, helping us see the good in the world. Most people will experience mental health challenges at some point in their lives, let’s normalize their experiences.

• • Spiritual practices can support mental health, in this article from Psychology Today.
  • British psychologist Kimberley Wilson looks at whole-body mental health in an On-Being conversation with Krista Tippett.
  • From Aeon Magazine, an exploration of the characteristics of those blessed with good temperaments.

Check out our Calendar

The Book Club meets beginning in September, skipping December, and then continuing January through May. We meet early in the afternoon the fourth Tuesday of those months.

Everyone is welcomed, even if you haven’t read or finished the book selected. All of us play a part in choosing the books and everyone has a chance to give their opinion. Check The Chalice or our Events calendar for meeting times and links for zoom and/or in-person meetings. Join us!

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Our choir, Voices UUnited starts up on Sunday at 9:30 a.m. in mid-September with Abigail Freeman, our Music Director. If you’d like to come out and join us we’d be happy to have you. We will rehearse every Sunday morning from 9:30 to 10:00 plus once a month after service and perform an anthem approximately every second Sunday. There is no audition and you do not need to read music – just love to sing. We welcome all.

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We call it the Daytimers because most of the people who come are available most or some Wednesday afternoons on the first and third Wednesdays of October and November. We carry on the first and third Wednesdays of January – May.

We start in the Great Hall at noon for a lunch you bring. (It’s okay if you are late, lots of people are.) Men and women are invited to attend. After lunch we talk about the various presentations, trips, DVD’s, local movies travelogues we might like to see. On the first meeting, that is what we will do, so don’t miss getting your favourite activity on the list!

Any Questions? Ask Virginia Culbert or anyone who participates. It’s fun!

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This space is open to all for quiet contemplation every Sunday from 9:50 to 10:20am. If you need a mid-week break, stop by between 10 and 2 and pick up the key from the office.

Are you looking for more in-depth, thoughtful conversation about life’s big questions? Come out to our new evenings of Table Talk, where we gather in small groups, enjoy tea and snacks, and respond to conversation starters. This is an opportunity to connect with one another and reflect on the way we live our lives.
Everyone is welcome, bring a friend! Register at minister@uucm.ca.

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Theme Groups will meet once a month at the times: Thursday afternoon, Sunday after service, and Tuesday on-line. You join one group and commit to that time. While you will get more out of the experience if you do the exercises and consider the questions, all are welcome to join a group. Some months you may be able to spend time on the theme, others you may only have participated in a single service. All are welcome to join and participate as best you can.

Theme groups will begin in October and run through May.Register at minister@uucm.ca.

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UCM regularly holds workshops and special events on topics of interest to members. To find out when the special event is scheduled, check the calendar for more information.

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Yoga is offered as part of our Adult Education program.

Join us for an evening of fun, relaxation and stretching. Classes are led by Margo McDougall.  A minimum fee of $15 is suggested or PWYC.   Bring a yoga mat, block, strap and a water bottle (required and not provided). Blocks can be borrowed if you do not have any.

Let Margo know at the beginning of class if there are any injuries or mobility accommodations required. Helpful items that may be borrowed if you don’t have them include a knee pad, a block and a rope.

Participants should arrive at 6:45pm, class commences at 7:00pm sharp. 

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Margo McDougall Biography

Margo aims to deliver classes that offer movement to the whole body, offering options for beginner to advanced students.  Focusing on static strength, balance and flexibility, each practice begins with breath work and is completed in a state of deep relaxation.