UUFSMA: The Power of Writing to  Heal and Transform 

Sunday, November 25, 10:30am
The Power of Writing to
Heal and Transform
​ Reyna Grande

At this Sunday’s Unitarian Universalist Fellowship service, author Reyna Grande discusses the power that writing has to heal and transform your life.

Words have power. How can you use writing as a way to disinfect your wounds? Why is confronting and facing difficult truths the path toward healing?

Writers, intellectuals and influencers have known about the power of ideas for centuries. Writing, or more accurately expressive writing, has been used as a form of therapy for decades. The written word has enabled people to record events, pass down traditions and aided us in developing complex reasoning. Writing, in fact, helps us to discover what we already know; it’s the process of streamlining our own ideas, a transformation that starts in our minds and is channeled through pen to paper. Transformation is the key word here, because words have the ability to change our way of thinking and empower us. Transforming your pain into art can lead to the road to salvation for both the writer and her/his readers.

Reyna Grande is the author of the bestselling memoir, The Distance Between Us, where she writes about her life before and after coming from Mexico to the United States as an undocumented immigrant. The much-anticipated sequel, A Dream Called Home, will be released this fall. Her other works include the novels, Across a Hundred Mountains, and Dancing with Butterflies.

She is the recipient of an American Book Award, the El Premio Aztlán Literary Award, and the International Latino Book Award. In 2012, she was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Awards, and three years later was honored with a Luis Leal Award for Distinction in Chicano/Latino Literature. The young reader’s version of The Distance Between Us received a 2017 Honor Book Award for the Américas Award for Children’s and Young Adult Literature, a 2016 Eureka! Honor Awards from the California Reading Association, and an International Literacy Association Children’s Book Award 2017. Currently, she teaches creative writing, travels across the country and abroad to give presentations, and is at work on her next book.

The UU Fellowship meets every Sunday at 10:30 a.m. at La Posada de la Aldea, Ancha de San Antonio 15 and welcomes people of all ages, races, religions, sexual orientation, and gender identity. For information about our Children’s Sunday Program, contact us at chris.chase1955@gmail.com. Visitors are invited to attend the service and then join the UUs for hospitality and discussion afterwards. Wheelchair accessible. For additional information, visit our web site at uufsma.org.

Our fellowship was born in 1987 when a small group of expatriate religious liberals came together to meet as Unitarian Universalists in San Miguel de Allende. The fellowship has been active and thriving ever since. Every UU church has it’s own flavor, and we are no exception. We are a combination of expats and visitors, each actively engaged and contributing to this wonderful Mexican community we love. Because there is a coming, going, and returning aspect, our spiritual community is extremely fluid.  There is a magic in San Miguel which draws us in and binds us together—both as members of the church and of the larger community. Our programming is led by visiting ministers, community leaders, and church members, so the variety is lively. We have opportunities to meet as UU’s each week at discussion groups, breakfasts, luncheons, and in various other ways. Depending on the season, attendance fluctuates between 40 and 140. Our primary focus is on funding social action within the surrounding community. We love good music, good discussion, good food, and having visitors. We invite you to join us any Sunday morning.

Members regularly post updates and information on this site. We also post meeting minutes and announcements there.

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https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/UUFSMA/info

Click on “membership”and follow the directions.

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We encourage you to use this site to communicate with other local UUs.