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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 39

  • A woman with graying hair and medium-dark skin holds a molecule model in her hands standing in front of a classroom whiteboard with chemistry notations written on it. She's smiling at a student, seen from behind, who is raising their hand.
    I encouraged my students to question authority, especially my authority, because only rarely can we recognize our biases without help.
    Reflection | By JD Stillwater | November 29, 2023 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Body, Humanism, Humility, Imagination, Reason, Science, Searching, Secular, Wonder, Work, Worship
  • A close-up of hands beating on drums outdoors: Earthen Rhythms, a local african drumming group at the Summertime in Maitland, NSW, Australia celebration.
    I believe that we are all "life drummers" just waiting to join in the rhythm.
    Reflection | By Christin Green | October 25, 2023 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Acceptance, Body, Community, Direct Experience, Interdependence, Self-Respect, Worship
  • A person sits on a medical examination table, wearing a medical exam gown. Their head isn't visible but their feet dangle off the end and their arms hold the table tensely.
    Sometimes we need someone to witness the pain in holy stillness.
    Reflection | By Jo VonRue | October 18, 2023 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Body, Compassion, Direct Experience, Gender, Ministry, Presence, Sexuality, Trauma, Worship
  • In a dance studio, a woman in a red tank top dances ethusiastically while other dancers are visible in the background.
    Embodying all of me is the best way I know to love the world.
    Reflection | By Laura Solomon | October 11, 2023 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Body, Growth, Limitations, Self-Care, Worship
  • A Black woman in athletic clothing is in child's pose on a yoga mat: arms stretched forward, head bowing, kneeling back towards her heels.
    Spirit and Breath, create an openness that violence has constricted.
    Reflection | By Melissa Jeter | October 4, 2023 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: #BlackLivesMatter, Anger, Body, Earth, Healing, Race/Ethnicity, Self-Care, Self-Respect, Worship
  • A woman sitting on a large tree branch, with the tree around her, holds her hands to her heart with closed eyes, as if meditating.
    Our bodies are so wise, and they hold so much information.
    Reflection | By Julica Hermann de la Fuente | September 27, 2023 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Body, Discernment, Wisdom, Worship
  • A hand opens a door, revealing a restroom.
    I belong, and you belong, and we belong—just as we are.
    Reflection | By Li Kynvi | May 31, 2023 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Anti-Oppression, Body, Courage, Direct Experience, Humanism, Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer, Oppression, Pride Sunday, Privilege, Secular, Worship
  • A small child clutches a sandwich in their hands, showing fingernails painted light blue.
    We are the hands and feet of love. And sometimes its fingernails, too.
    Reflection | By Joanna Fontaine Crawford | May 10, 2023 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Body, Children, Direct Experience, Gender, Generations, Imagination, Unitarian Universalism, Worship
  • A small Black girl smiles, sitting at a table. Next to her, back to the camera, is a man we imagine to be her grandfather.
    Let us be grateful for the vital force that wakes us and moves us.
    Reflection | By Melissa Jeter | January 25, 2023 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: #BlackLivesMatter, America, Body, Generations, Love, Race/Ethnicity, Worship
  • A pink placard reading "Don't take away my birth control" taken at a Planned Parenthood Rally in New York City. In the background, the stonework of a courthouse is visible.
    As sacred beings, we hold the wisdom to know what is best for our own selves.
    Reflection | By Deborah Weiner | January 11, 2023 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Activism, Body, Choice, Self-Care, Solidarity, Unitarian Universalism, Unitarianism, Women, Reproductive Justice, Worship
  • A newborn infant lies on a bed next to their mother, whose torso reveals stretch marks and other signs of recently giving birth.
    Motherhood must be a choice. It cannot be chosen for us.
    Reflection | By Leslie Ahuvah Fails | May 11, 2022 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Body, Children, Choice, Mothers, Reproductive Justice, Worship
  • A photo, from above, of a Black mother with daughter lying down on cozy couch in living room, cuddling and napping together at home.
    If I want well-being to be my truth, I must reclaim and protect it.
    Reflection | By Atena O. Danner | January 26, 2022 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Anti-Oppression, Body, Limitations, Self-Care, Worship
  • In a yoga studio, called Fat Yoga, seven people move into a powerful pose on their yoga mats.
    To understand that my humanity and my abundant flesh both demand dignity is to embrace fat liberation.
    Reflection | By Andrew Tripp | January 19, 2022 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Acceptance, Body, Fat Liberation, Love, Self-Respect, Worship
  • Seen from behind, a person walks along a low-tide beach. Kelp covered rocks in foreground. Gentle surf and ocean waves in distance.
    I am learning to give up needing to know the answers, and instead live with the questions.
    Reflection | By Diane Dassow | October 20, 2021 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Body, Direct Experience, Illness, Patience, Peace, Spiritual Practice, Worry, Worship
  • Several people wearing masks stand, in church, holding out their hands as if in prayer.
    Committing to right relationship means being willing to revise our practices when we learn that previously accepted habits might be harmful.
    Reflection | By Christine Slocum | May 19, 2021 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: #COVID19, Body, Community, Worship
  • The Statue of Liberty, as seen from behind and from the waist up, against a grey sky.
    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
  • In a suburban neighborhood, a girl lies stomach down on a lawn, holding a camera up to her face.
    I hope that this Great Silence, which has come alongside the suffering, holds the beginnings of our healing.
    Reflection | By Elea Kemler | May 6, 2020 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Balance, Beauty, Body, Direct Experience, Earth-Centered, Hope, Humanism, Imagination, Nature, Presence, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Secular, Spring
  • A series of large red plus signs, made out of tape, on the floor of a grocery store aisle
    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
  • Seen from above, in light cast only by flames, a solitary person swings two "poi" fire weights on chains (sometimes called "fire juggling")
    We all have our foibles; pieces of ourselves that we both admire and occasionally revile. These gifts and struggles exist in tandem.
    Reflection | By Alix Klingenberg | March 4, 2020 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Acceptance, Body, Compassion, Direct Experience, Discernment, Self-Care, Self-Respect
  • A wicker bassinet, lined with bedding, with infant clothing draped on the edge.
    Before I birthed my baby, he was a possibility, a kick against my insides. With that first cry, first breath, he became a person in the world.
    Reflection | By Caitlin Cotter Coillberg | February 26, 2020 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Beginnings, Birth, Body, Children, Death, Direct Experience, Family, Grief, Mothers, Sacred
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