Braver/Wiser
Braver/Wiser
Braver/Wiser
Worship
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 by a contemporary religious leader, and brief prayer, grounded in Unitarian Universalism. Join the Braver/Wiser community and sign up today!
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Becoming Ourselves
Who are you going to be, today? And tomorrow? Who are we all becoming, together?By Amanda Poppei | 5/8/2019 -
Indiscriminate Tastes
It's hard to feel gratitude for something when you're focusing on what’s wrong with it.By Kat Liu | 5/1/2019 -
Inviting Our True Attention
I call the tall bush on my back patio “Burning Bush” because in autumn its leaves are a fiery red. All winter long I overlooked three uninhabited nests inside of it. For months and months I could have perceived—but didn’t—what was in plain sight. ...By Karen G. Johnston | 4/24/2019 -
Brilliant Collisions
We can’t always predict which choices will wind up having a huge impact on us, whether it's bringing home a stuffed animal or taking a particular train to Oxford Circus.By Lindasusan Ulrich | 4/17/2019 -
A Different Kind of Peace
Sometimes people show up fully and be with me. And sometimes they cannot, even if they really care about me and want to help.By Misha Sanders | 4/10/2019 -
Try Again Tomorrow
When I internalize cultural messages about the definitions of success or failure—or anything, really—I undermine my own sense of self-worth.By Helen Rose | 4/3/2019 -
Downrange of Mystery
A haircut, a cup of coffee, or just an honest “How are you?” can be transformed into a powerful moment between two people living in a hard world.By Rebekah Savage | 3/27/2019 -
God Manifest
I saw a woman surrounded by the pressures to conform to adulthood, being the adult she always wanted to be when she was a child. She was as God made her, not who everyone else wanted her to be.By Nathan Ryan | 3/20/2019 -
Another Human Miracle
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?By Monica Dobbins | 3/13/2019 -
This Is What We Do Here
Despite being warmly welcomed over and over by the greeters, by the family sitting behind me, and by the lead pastor, I couldn’t shake that “guest” feeling.By Erika A. Hewitt | 3/6/2019 -
Trying Something Different
Over the years, I’ve built up an impressive array of tools for meetings: I-statements, being assertive, and all of that stuff. What I could improve on, though, is knowing when to switch tools.By Liz James | 2/27/2019 -
Your Soul's Address
It is deeply spiritual work to learn to treat ourselves with compassion; to learn to see ourselves, if only in moments, the same way we look at something or someone we find beautiful: a newborn baby, the ocean, a sunset.By Elea Kemler | 2/13/2019 -
Here. Now. You.
Outside of the meditation hall, we plan for the future and think of the past. But so often we replay past regrets and worry about future events to the point where we’re no longer present in the present.By Kat Liu | 2/6/2019 -
Where the Action Is
Love without justice is not love. Compassion without deeds is not compassion. Faith without action is not faith. And religion without politics is not religion. In my view, people of faith are not entitled to avoid politics for the sake of a short-lived spiritual high.By James Gertmenian | 1/30/2019 -
Finding Our Way Out
Surrender is the last thing, often the only thing, available. And so we give ourselves to it. We fear it is our end. Sometimes—with grace or luck—we find it is our liberation.By Karen G. Johnston | 1/23/2019 -
Big Shoes to Fill
Traditions and habits can be changed or broken and that’s not always bad. It doesn’t mean we didn’t learn or like what we did in the past, it just means that we moved on to something else and that’s okay too.By Rayla D. Mattson | 1/16/2019 -
Love's Hiding Place
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.By Rebekah Savage | 1/9/2019 -
Quitting
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.By Alix Klingenberg | 1/2/2019 -
Too Much of Everything
In real life, sometimes grief looms largest in December. Sometimes there's one too many dress-ups and the gold tulle makes your legs itch. “I just needed it to stop for a minute. Next time I will take calm breaths.”By Misha Sanders | 12/19/2018 -
Hope Is Currency
There's nothing simple about the holidays. Joy can feel empty when it is compulsory. The promise of liberation is hard fought and well earned.By Alex Haider-Winnett | 12/12/2018
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For more information contact braverwiser@uua.org.
