Learning and exploration are about the transformation of the individual, our community, and the larger society. Participation helps us grow in wisdom, compassion, and ethical living. See below for our November activities, programs, and workshops for adults.
To contact the facilitator in regard to any offering, you may email AdultRE@UUSM.org with the title of the group in the subject line. Your email will be forwarded. Please note that currently, all offerings are facilitated through Zoom. Contact Teri Lucas for more information and the link to the Zoom meeting.
Do you have a passion or an expertise? Are you a chef or a gardener, a historian or an actor? Would you like to offer some help, support, or some frivolity to our UU community via Zoom? We’re seeking programming that is fun, informative, and engaging. Please let us know if there’s something you’d like to offer and the Adult RE Committee will help you to do it. Email the Adult RE Committee (AdultRE@UUSM.org) or Teri Lucas (uusmREassist@uusm.org) and we can work with you on presenting your ideas.
Community Building Through Personal Development:
Nature Journaling with Dorothy Steinicke Sunday November 15
Come and join us in observing, learning about, and enjoying nature. Whether you are spending some time outdoors or not stepping out your front door at all, you can still enjoy and appreciate nature. You are welcome to join even if you have no knowledge of nature, botany, drawing or writing. In fact you are encouraged to join if this is the case. People who attend these groups remark that they are reminded of times in childhood when they had the time to get lost in wonder at the natural world. As adults, we rarely give ourselves that permission. We will meet from 2:30 – 4:00 pm. Contact: Dorothy Steinicke.
Exploration of Ideas:
AAHS Freethinker Forum Sunday November 22
The Freethinker Forum is a monthly interactive meeting sponsored by AAHS: Agnostics, Atheists, Humanists & Secularists of UU Santa Monica. All are welcome to join in a lively discussion where a diversity of viewpoints are encouraged and respected. We’ll meet from 12:00 noon – 1:30 pm via Zoom. Contact: James Witker.
Science Non-Fiction Book Discussion Tuesday November 17
We will discuss “Scale: The Universal Laws of Growth, Innovation, Sustainability, and the Pace of Life in Organisms, Cities, Economies, and Companies,” by Geoffrey West. The author is a fellow of the Santa Fe Institute, which examines the power laws governing the points in the title. Power laws in biology have been well understood for years, but predictability in more global ways is fairly new. All are welcome. To receive the link, you will want to be on the group email list. We meet from 7:30 – 9:00 pm. Contact: Rebecca Crawford, sci-nonfiction@uusm.org. All are welcome.
UU Men’s Group Thursdays November 5 and 19
Meditations:
Open Meditation Mondays November 9, 23, 30
We gather twice a month to sit together quietly for 20 minutes, to walk with gentle awareness for seven minutes, and to explore the integration of meditation with ordinary life through reading and sharing. Anyone who senses they would benefit from 20 minutes of silent, non-guided sitting is welcome to join us. We have found that this time of quiet meditation and shared exploration can be deeply nourishing – a time of simply “being” amidst all the “doing” of our lives. We meet from 7:30 – 9:00 pm. Contacts: Bev Shoenberger or Carol Ring.
Open Meditation: Wellsprings All Wednesdays and Fridays
These are exceptional times. Taking this time for quiet meditation and sharing in the intimacy of having sat in silence together can help sustain and ground us during these difficult days. We trust each of you will use this group in the way that fits your needs. We listen to brief readings, sit together quietly for twenty minutes, journal and share with each other what’s on our hearts. We simply sit together in our shared humanity. We call off the struggle to become other than we are. These are drop-in groups. You are welcome to join us when it feels right to you. If you come in late or need to leave early, just do so quietly. We meet every Wednesday and Friday afternoon from 12:00 noon – 1:00 pm online. Contact: Bev Shoenberger.
