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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  • Each of us at the wedding had unique stories about their life, but most knew how it felt to be an Asian American in this country.
    Reflection | By Yuri Yamamoto | September 20, 2017 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 6th Principle (World Community), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), America, Anti-Oppression, Direct Experience, Identity, Immigration, Inclusion, International, Multiculturalism, Race/Ethnicity
  • How many times do I need to make mistakes before I’m ready to admit that I’m not any better at this than the bigoted and willfully ignorant?
    Reflection | By DeReau K. Farrar | September 12, 2017 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Acceptance, Challenge, Change, Direct Experience, Humanism, Integrity, Living Our Faith, Secular, Self-Respect, Transformation, Unitarian Universalism
  • We have to have faith that in the end our small actions matter. We can’t predict what will happen when a small change has been entered into a complex system; the only thing we can predict is that we’ve changed the future in some way.
    Reflection | By Tim Atkins | September 5, 2017 | From Braver/Wiser
  • Pray, if you pray. Send love and money, too. We will be rolled and covered, but we will rise and carry others with us. Watch for the opportunities to rise and carry. Watch for the holy moments where some people see God.
    Reflection | By Teresa Honey Youngblood | August 30, 2017 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 6th Principle (World Community), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Awe, Brokenness, Caring, Community, Disaster, Healing, Nature, Transcendence, Unitarian Universalism
  • Remembering is the art of holding a memory and sharing it; it’s drawing upon that memory so it can help us to grow into people who live lives of meaning and service. As a practice, remembering connects us deeply to each other and to the love that sustains us.
    Reflection | By Elizabeth Harding | August 23, 2017 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Community, Death, Direct Experience, Family, Friendship, Grief, Humanism, Love, Memorial Services, Remembrance Day, Secular, Unitarian Universalism
  • Spirit that runs through us all, help me to remember all the ways in which I am connected to others.
    Reflection | By Aisha Ansano | August 16, 2017 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Activism, Agnosticism, America, Atheism, Commitment, Community, Democracy, Direct Experience, Hope, Humanism, Interdependence, Race/Ethnicity, Secular, Solidarity
  • Someone had broken into our garage. We picked our way through the space, storage tubs strewn about, ready to make a list of what was missing: two wool sweaters and half a tent. Someone was suffering a misfortune here, but it wasn’t us.
    Reflection | By Becky Brooks | August 9, 2017 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Abundance, Direct Experience, Empathy, Family, Gratitude, Home, Letting Go, Poverty
  • In the moment that I switched to “teacher mode,” I recalled moments in which I had inadvertently said ungracious things. I was fortunate enough to have professors, ministers, and friends illuminate my clumsiness for me. They did so in a way that was gracious enough that it increased my appreciation and respect for them, and clear enough that I will never forget the teaching.
    Reflection | By Seanan R. Holland | August 2, 2017 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Direct Experience, Growth, Humanism, Humility, Inclusion, Military, Privilege, Secular
  • Our souls and minds need sustenance as much as our physical bodies. May we delight in the ways we find to provide this nourishment to our whole selves.
    Reflection | By Aisha Ansano | July 26, 2017 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Body, Compromise, Direct Experience, Family, Food, Humanism, Peace, Secular, Self-Care
  • "Fear's pronoun is singular: I've got to watch out for me and mine. Love's pronoun is plural: we're in this together, and together we can grow things that will blossom even in a time of drought." —Kathleen McTigue My son, Caleb, and I went to Starbucks on a recent Saturday morning. We often do...
    Reflection | By Elea Kemler | July 19, 2017 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), Children, Direct Experience, Disability, Humanism, Interdependence, Kindness, Living Our Faith, Love, Mothers, Multiculturalism, Parents, Secular, Unitarian Universalism
  • There’s something deeply moving for me about the idea of a love that will always have my back.
    Reflection | By DeReau K. Farrar | July 12, 2017 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Christianity, Direct Experience, Love, Relationships
  • For almost thirty years after coming to the United States, I didn't fully understand the cultural cues around me. Initially, this gave me the false sense of liberation. I often interpreted uncomfortable situations to be my fault, as an ignorant immigrant. Trying hard to assimilate, I unconsciously suppressed what came naturally to me.
    Reflection | By Yuri Yamamoto | July 5, 2017 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), America, Culture, Direct Experience, Identity, Immigration, International, Letting Go, Multiculturalism, Race/Ethnicity, Transformation
  • The most important lesson pottery has taught me is to not be attached to the final product—the process matters more than the product.
    Reflection | By Tim Atkins | June 28, 2017 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Abundance, Arts & Music, Beginnings, Creativity, Direct Experience, Humanism, Playfulness, Secular
  • Light We Seek, wherever I am on the journey toward wholeness for all of us—that is, toward racial equality—help me to forgive myself and others for missteps and missed opportunities, and guide my efforts to build up the relationships where love, justice, and understanding grow.
    Reflection | By Teresa Honey Youngblood | June 21, 2017 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Abundance, Direct Experience, Earth, Food, Food Justice, Generosity, Humanism, Nature, Race/Ethnicity, Stewardship, Work
  • What DO we do in the face of evil? Anything. Everything. Pray, protest, bake, hug, grieve, wail, laugh, explain, linger, research, fight, cry. What we absolutely must not do is ignore it.
    Reflection | By Becky Brooks | June 14, 2017 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Anti-Oppression, Caring, Children, Community, Direct Experience, Disaster or Crisis, Humanism, Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer, Love, Multiculturalism, Parents, Secular, Unitarian Universalism, Violence
  • I am not alone. I don’t have to face the world alone and I don’t have to fix the world alone. When I need hope, I find it in on the faces of my people. All we need is hope... and for that, we have each other.
    Reflection | By Sean Parker Dennison | June 7, 2017 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Activism, Community, Connections, Direct Experience, Hope, Relationships
  • “Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends.” —Maya Angelou As a born traveler, I love the novelty of discovering a familiar thing...
    Reflection | By Daniel Gregoire | May 31, 2017 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: America, Direct Experience, Identity, Journey, Race/Ethnicity
  • Life is neither a playground nor a game. The folded lies are real. With our voices, we can and will undo them.
    Reflection | By Maureen Killoran | May 24, 2017 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Discernment, Integrity, Truth
  • “I wanted a perfect ending. Now I've learned, the hard way, that some poems don't rhyme, and some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next. Delicious...
    Reflection | By Marisol Caballero | May 17, 2017 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Acceptance, Direct Experience, Faith, Letting Go, Mystery, Trust
  • ”If we don’t find a way to transform our pain, we will always transmit it to those around us or turn it against ourselves… If your religion is not teaching you how to recognize, hold, and transform suffering, it is junk religion.” —Fr. Richard Rohr People are in pain all around us, all of...
    Reflection | By Erika Hewitt | May 10, 2017 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Brokenness, Buddhism, Compassion, Connections, Direct Experience, Healing, Mystery, Pain, Spiritual Practice, Spirituality, Unitarian Universalism

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