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 121 - 140 of 322

  • A triumph of love over death is the core of the Easter message.
    Reflection | By Rachel Lonberg | March 31, 2021 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Beauty, Christianity, Death, Easter, Joy, Love, Worship
  • Spirit of Life and Love, help me to notice when I am hooked.
    Reflection | By Shari Woodbury | March 17, 2021 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Buddhism, Contemplation, Mindfulness, Patience, Spiritual Practice, Worship
  • Maybe hope is fleeting. It leaves and returns again; there’s beauty in its impermanence.
    Reflection | By Jessica Clay | March 10, 2021 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Animals, Contemplation, Earth, Earth-Centered, Nature, Presence, Secular, Winter, Worship
  • My broken is what makes me who I am today.
    Reflection | By Paula Gribble | February 24, 2021 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Beauty, Brokenness, Wholeness, Worship
  • Impermanence, mortality, ashes, dust: this is the truth of being human.
    Reflection | By Lora Brandis | February 17, 2021 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Christianity, Death, Discernment, Grief, Humility, Lent, Love, Spiritual Practice, Worship
  • I've adopted the practice of spiritual reconnection with my ancestors to heal intergenerational trauma.
    Reflection | By Jabari S. Jones | February 10, 2021 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: #BlackLivesMatter, 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), America, Anti-Oppression, Black History / Whitney Young / James Reeb, Direct Experience, Diversity, Generations, Healing, History, International, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Race/Ethnicity, Transformation, Trauma, Worship
  • I’m part of a covenantal community and when a covenant gets broken, it’s my responsibility to name that break, with kindness and the intention of healing, and to call us back into right relationship.
    Reflection | By Julica Hermann de la Fuente | February 3, 2021 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: #SideWithLove, Worship
  • I named the truth as I perceived it, because it didn’t feel like there was any other option.
    Reflection | By Aisha Ansano | January 27, 2021 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: #BlackLivesMatter, #SideWithLove, Direct Experience, Living Our Faith, Truth, Worship
  • Black Queens saved our democracy. We owe them a great deal.
    Reflection | By Carol Thomas Cissel | January 20, 2021 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: America, Democracy, Humanism, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Race/Ethnicity, Women, Work, Worship
  • Holding people accountable for the impact of their behavior is not revenge; it’s what makes change and growth possible, and no real healing in community can come without it.
    Reflection | By Kristin Grassel Schmidt | January 13, 2021 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: America, Conflict, Democracy, Disaster or Crisis, Forgiveness, Humanism, Redemption, Responsibility, Seven Principles, Universalism, Worship
  • I experience the creative impulse as living just under the surface of the daily grind: tugging; imploring, When do we all get to sing together again?
    Reflection | By Erin J. Walter | January 6, 2021 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: #COVID19, Arts & Music, Creativity, Direct Experience, Humanism, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Self-Care, Worship
  • What’s the one word you hope will define your upcoming year?
    Reflection | By Tim Atkins | December 30, 2020 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Choice, Discernment, Identity, New Year, Spiritual Practice, Worship
  • The stories remind us there is still and always joy in this world, but it usually comes right alongside the struggle.
    Reflection | By Elea Kemler | December 16, 2020 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Advent, Christianity, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Direct Experience, Hope, Joy, Searching, Worship
  • This is a "love saves" story.
    Reflection | By Paul S Sawyer | December 9, 2020 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), Advent, Anger, Children, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Compassion, Direct Experience, Humanism, Living Our Faith, Love, Psychology, Relationships, Respect, Responsibility, Self-Respect, Worship
  • This year, the Advent season seems particularly seized by a spirit of the expected, the longing.
    Reflection | By Robin Tanner | December 2, 2020 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: #COVID19, Advent, Children, Christianity, Hope, Living Our Faith, Parents, Purpose, Worship
  • The wilderness alongside every moment, sprawling in each direction, holds more than the silence that theologians imagine of God.
    Reflection | By Jake Morrill | November 25, 2020 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: #COVID19, Contemplation, Death, Direct Experience, Earth, Earth-Centered, God, Imagination, Nature, Transcendence, Worship
  • We seek blessed assurance through pandemic chaos, relentless loss, and unimaginable stress.
    Reflection | By Taryn Strauss | November 18, 2020 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: #COVID19, Children, Family, Humanism, Integrity, Secular, Seven Principles, Worship
  • We are all in this together, and when bad things happen that are preventable by human means, we are all implicated.
    Reflection | By Erica Shadowsong | November 11, 2020 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Evil, Goddess, International, Worship
  • Uncertain as the world feels right now, love will bear whatever lies ahead.
    Reflection | By Julie Fanselow | November 4, 2020 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: America, Body, Brokenness, Democracy, Direct Experience, Healing, Health, Humanism, Marriage, Secular, Worship
  • Learning to love all of me—including the parts I used to be scared of—made the fear go away.
    Reflection | By Ndidi Achebe | October 28, 2020 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: #BlackLivesMatter, Family, Mental Health, Race/Ethnicity, Self-Care, Self-Respect, Worship

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