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Braver/Wiser: Courage and Compassion for Life as It Is

Life is full of hard edges and complicated choices. Braver/Wiser gives you weekly message of courage and compassion for life as it is. Every Wednesday we deliver an original written reflection and brief prayer, grounded in Unitarian Universalism. Join the Braver/Wiser community and sign up today!

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Displaying 1 - 20 of 340

  • In a muddy field under a gray sky, people in raincoats kneel in the mud, harvesting vegetables to stack in plastic crates.
    I care that fascism is not just approaching, but is already here, rising, like this cresting river.
    Reflection | By Karen G. Johnston | October 2, 2024 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: #UUTheVote, Disaster or Crisis, Worship
  • Two LatinX preteens, crouched on the ground, feeding three black chickens and a speckled rooster.
    Like the free-roaming roosters of the Caribbean, no one can tell me I don’t belong.
    Reflection | By Raquel V. Reyes | September 25, 2024 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Acceptance, Anti-Oppression, Character, Direct Experience, Identity, Integrity, International, Multiculturalism, Race/Ethnicity, Self-Care, Self-Respect, Vulnerability, Worship
  • A close up of a clear, bubbly beverage being poured into a clear wine glass, held by a person.
    All of us are active participants in co-creating congregational and community life.
    Reflection | September 18, 2024 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Accountability, Addiction/Recovery, Hospitality, Inclusion, Individualism, Responsibility, Worship
  • A light-skinned Black woman sits in an office chair, grasping her head in exasperation and gritting her teeth. Around her, blurred, are the figures of office workers rushing by.
    What do you do when you’re really angry with someone and you can’t seem to let it go?
    Reflection | By Laura Horton-Ludwig | September 11, 2024 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Anger, Brokenness, Buddhism, Compassion, Worship
  • A person inside a stationary car, in the driver's seat, sits with closed eyes, holding their hand to their forehead as if trying to calm down.
    Staying present to what’s real—our world, our hope, our stories—can help us embody our values.
    Reflection | By Lindasusan Ulrich | September 4, 2024 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Worship
  • In a dark room, several taper candles and smaller candles in red, cut-glass holders are all alit.
    This is a year in which hard, brave choices will be required of all of us.
    Reflection | By Martha Durkee-Neuman | June 26, 2024 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Choice, Courage, Creativity, Direct Experience, Discernment, Imagination, Integrity, Interdependence, Journey, Secular, Worship
  • A small rainbow flag, on a small stick, is held by the outstretched arms of two different people of color.
    “Queer” challenges the status quo; it dares me to be authentically myself.
    Reflection | By Vanessa Titang | June 19, 2024 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: #Pride, 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Acceptance, Coming Out, Direct Experience, Humanism, Identity, Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer, Multiculturalism, Pride Sunday, Searching, Self-Respect, Sexuality, Transformation, Worship
  • Two middle-aged people, seen from the shoulders up, press their faces together intimately and smile broadly. A Pride flag is wrapped around their shoulders.
    May everyone feel safe and free to love as they choose.
    Reflection | By Lynette Yetter | June 12, 2024 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: #Pride, 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 6th Principle (World Community), Brokenness, Community, Despair, Direct Experience, Fear, Friendship, Humanism, Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer, Oppression, Pain, Pride Sunday, Searching, Women, Worship
  • A nonbinary teen--white, with freckles and shoulder-length brown hair--holds a camera up, partially obscuring their face, as they look at the photographer.
    Being nonbinary has finally brought me home to myself.
    Reflection | By Mare Martell | June 5, 2024 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: #LGBTQ, #Pride, 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Acceptance, Coming-of-Age, Direct Experience, Discernment, Gender, Identity, Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer, Pride Sunday, Searching, Self-Respect, Transformation, Wholeness, Worship
  • A fabric rainbow tote bag dangles from someone's hand. They're standing on a sidewalk, wearing trousers, visible only from the hip down.
    My queerness is about mindset and attitude and intention.
    Reflection | By Paige Getty | May 29, 2024 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: #Pride, Worship
  • In profile, a person prays: their eyes are closed, and their forehead rests on their clasped hands.
    I have often felt the divine most present when I feel dissolved into a holy community.
    Reflection | By Julie Yeeun Kim | May 22, 2024 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Worship
  • An elderly woman wearing a paing-spattered apron sits in front of an easel, smiling, as she paints a beautiful landscape.
    It takes a community to remember someone in all of their many facets.
    Reflection | By Aaron Stockwell Wisman | May 15, 2024 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Worship
  • An infant, lying on a bed and swaddled in a blanket, has their hand held by an adult. Their hands and part of their torso are all we see.
    Dear world, how does love right now move me to action?
    Reflection | By Sarah Pirtle | May 8, 2024 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Children, Direct Experience, Love, Mother's Day, Mothers, Parents, Patience, Worry, Worship
  • A person is curled up, sleeping on a slab of cardboard, with a bag and cup next to them. They're on a sidewalk near a busy street with traffic and pedestrians.
    Harm of one is harm of all.
    Reflection | By Karen G. Johnston | May 1, 2024 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Character, Compassion, Connections, Direct Experience, Empathy, Ethics, Humanism, Interdependence, Poverty, Privilege, Responsibility, Secular, Suffering, Worship
  • Inside a car, a young adult sits behind the driver's seat. In the passenger seat is someone implied to be a driving instructor due to the clipboard he's holding.
    When I remember to orient myself within the bigger picture, it recalibrates my perspective.
    Reflection | By Kat Liu | April 24, 2024 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Balance, Worship
  • Above a cityscape, in a black-and-white photo, a lone crow or corvid spreads its wings mid-flight.
    Crows found ways to adapt to our concrete forests but we have not yet found ways to make sure we are in balance with the rest of creation.
    Reflection | By Christine Slocum | April 17, 2024 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Animals, Earth, Earth Day, Earth-Centered, Interdependence, Nature, Worship
  • A person with white skin holds, in their upturned palms, a strand of help. Beneath their hands we see the person's feet standing on sand.
    This is my favorite thing about seaweed: it feels so much like my neurodiverse brain.
    Reflection | By Quinn Gormley | March 20, 2024 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Acceptance, Direct Experience, Earth-Centered, Honesty, Imagination, Nature, Personal Stories, Self-Care, Worship
  • A painting of a person's head, in profile. Their brain and the background are both awash in swirls of color, galaxy-like sparks and stars, and cosmic texture.
    People who aren't neurodiverse tend to frame neurodiversity as symptoms of inconvenience to people around them. For me, my ADHD means beauty.
    Reflection | By Quinn Gormley | March 13, 2024 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Acceptance, Beauty, Direct Experience, Identity, Multiculturalism, Psychology, Self-Respect, Wonder, Worship
  • Four people with their backs to the camera stand shoulder-to-shoulder, their arms around each other, as they look into a beautiful sunny vista.
    Appreciation and deep witness are beautiful gateways for returning to our most authentic selves.
    Reflection | By Jami Yandle | March 6, 2024 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Compassion, Friendship, Humanism, Interdependence, Listening, Love, Vulnerability, Worship
  • Black and white photo of only the arms of dark-skinned people, raised as if praying in a church pew
    When someone lists Unitarians or Universalists, they usually name white men. Never anyone Black like me.
    Reflection | By Connie Simon | February 28, 2024 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: #8thPrinciple, #BlackHistoryMonth, #BlackLivesMatter, 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Generations, History, Identity, Race/Ethnicity, Self-Respect, Truth, Unitarian Universalism, Unitarianism, Universalism, Worship
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