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 - 14 of 14

  • 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
  • Remind me that success is not the only measure of a life.
    Reflection | By Amanda Poppei | January 31, 2024 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Acceptance, Compassion, Failure, Humanism, Secular, Self-Respect, Vulnerability, Worship
  • None of us are mission-making machines.
    Reflection | By Susan Maginn | May 18, 2022 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Compassion, Direct Experience, Humanism, Leadership, Military, Ministry, Secular, Vulnerability, Worship
  • A new disease, without any cure, is pushing us apart. And, yet, we cannot escape one another. We need one another. Whether I acknowledge it or not, the guarantee of safety does not exist.
    Reflection | By Manish Mishra-Marzetti | April 15, 2020 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: #COVID19, 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Body, Coming Out, Direct Experience, Fear, Humanism, Illness, Interdependence, Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer, Relationships, Secular, Shame, Vulnerability
  • A lot of us feel like our lives should have come with instructions. Or maybe they did, but we lost the only copy a long time ago.
    Reflection | By Elea Kemler | February 12, 2020 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Brokenness, Caring, Change, Direct Experience, Friendship, Humanism, Interdependence, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Relationships, Trust, Vulnerability
  • It was disruptive and strange to know that someone had died to bring this hope, and to wonder how the donor’s family mourned at the same time we rejoiced.
    Reflection | By Elizabeth Bukey Saunter | December 11, 2019 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Body, Direct Experience, Family, Fear, Interdependence, Mystery, Relationships, Vulnerability
  • The crisis was an opportunity to learn to be fully me and love it, inner turmoil and all. I learned that strength comes from authenticity, never from perfection.
    Reflection | By Tomo Hillbo | November 27, 2019 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), Brokenness, Conscience, Direct Experience, Family, Grief, Healing, Love, Mothers, Self-Care, Self-Respect, Vulnerability
  • What could you accomplish this week if you knew you had a ground team wishing you well? Who are the other explorers around you, needing a word of encouragement that would mean so much coming from you?
    Reflection | By Monica Dobbins | March 13, 2019 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Community, Direct Experience, Friendship, Hope, Humanism, Relationships, Science, Secular, Vulnerability
  • My soul nudged me from a hiding place to confess and to seek forgiveness, and only through the grace of the Great Mystery of Life unfolding around us did I receive the blessing of journeying with a beloved, grieving friend.
    Reflection | By Rebekah Savage | January 9, 2019 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Connections, Direct Experience, Failure, Forgiveness, Friendship, Guilt, Love, Reconciliation, Relationships, Self-Respect, Vulnerability
  • Once I quit drinking, my inner voice and I began the harder work: that of creating a life from which I do not need or want to escape.
    Reflection | By Alix Klingenberg | January 2, 2019 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Acceptance, Addiction/Recovery, Body, Change, Direct Experience, Discernment, Health, Humility, Letting Go, Self-Respect, Vulnerability
  • What, exactly, are we doing when we invite love into our lives? Surely we know that it's much tidier without it, when things stay at a distance.
    Reflection | By Amanda Poppei | November 28, 2018 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Animals, Direct Experience, Love, Parents, Relationships, Vulnerability
  • It’s been said that it’s easier to untangle a string of lights if you plug them in; it’s no different for people. Humans, just like strings of lights, are wired for connection.
    Reflection | By Erin Powers | December 13, 2017 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Advent, Awe, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Connections, Direct Experience, Humanism, Mystery, Relationships, Secular, Trust, Vulnerability, Wholeness
  • Spirit of Compassion, help us draw strength from all that we are. Give us new language with which to claim our wholeness, a new litany of joy built out of words that wounded.
    Reflection | By Lindasusan Ulrich | December 6, 2017 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Acceptance, Body, Direct Experience, Fat Liberation, Fear, Honesty, Humanism, Secular, Self-Respect, Truth, Vulnerability, Wholeness
  • We are sometimes selfish, sometimes complicit with systems that do harm, sometimes the cause of pain and injustice. Until we can hold compassion for ourselves and others—until we can be forgiving when we fall short—our love is incomplete.
    Reflection | By Sean Parker Dennison | March 29, 2017 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), 6th Principle (World Community), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Anti-Oppression, Brokenness, Compassion, Conscience, Direct Experience, Disability, Growth, Honesty, Humanism, Multiculturalism, Secular, Solidarity, Unitarian Universalism, Vulnerability

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