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 - 17 of 17
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Building relationships requires the risk of being open and curious.Reflection | By Melissa Jeter | November 22, 2023 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: Community, Compassion, Connections, Healing, Humanism, Love, Mental Health, Relationships, Secular, Trauma, Unitarian Universalism, Worship -
Spirit and Breath, create an openness that violence has constricted.Reflection | By Melissa Jeter | October 4, 2023 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: #BlackLivesMatter, Anger, Body, Earth, Healing, Race/Ethnicity, Self-Care, Self-Respect, Worship -
Self-compassion was one of the best gifts I gave myself.Reflection | By DanaLee Simon | September 6, 2023 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: Acceptance, Change, Earth, Healing, Nature, Patience, Personal Stories, Self-Respect, Stewardship, Worship -
Every relationship is an ongoing story that unfolds between people.Reflection | By Erika Hewitt | June 28, 2023 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: Brokenness, Connections, Forgiveness, Healing, Relationships, Worship -
Love is reaching through the generations with expectations that I live through challenging times.Reflection | By Melissa Jeter | November 2, 2022 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Direct Experience, Earth, Fall, Family, Generations, Healing, Love, Presence, Worship -
May I have the wisdom to be curious when I find myself grumbling about “them.”Reflection | By Erika Hewitt | April 7, 2021 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: #COVID19, 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Conflict, Conscience, Healing, Humanism, Integrity, Relationships, Secular, Self-Respect, 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/WiserTagged 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 -
Uncertain as the world feels right now, love will bear whatever lies ahead.Reflection | By Julie Fanselow | November 4, 2020 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: America, Body, Brokenness, Democracy, Direct Experience, Healing, Health, Humanism, Marriage, Secular, Worship -
Jesus had no political power. He lived his whole life in the shadow of the Roman empire, and that empire killed him. Yet Jesus healed the sick, he listened, he moved among the ordinary people, in the lowly places.Reflection | By Myke Johnson | April 8, 2020 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: #COVID19, 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Calling, Caring, Christianity, Democracy, Easter, Evil, Good Friday, Healing, Hope, Power, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Responsibility -
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/WiserTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), Brokenness, Conscience, Direct Experience, Family, Grief, Healing, Love, Mothers, Self-Care, Self-Respect, Vulnerability -
I wanted so much to believe that God was watching over this boy, that God was tender and protective and fiercely on the side of life and that this boy would not slip away.Reflection | By Elea Kemler | February 21, 2018 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: Children, Depression, Direct Experience, Family, Healing, Humanism, Illness, Mental Health, Mothers, Presence, Secular, Unitarian Universalism -
"How complicated it is to break silence: to open all of the secrets in all of our broken hearts. But silence does break; truth seeks the light. We're unraveling silence because we have determined that our power with one another is greater than the power someone once had over us."Reflection | By Erika Hewitt | November 15, 2017 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Brokenness, Direct Experience, Gender, Healing, Humanism, Men, Power, Silence, Truth, Violence, Women -
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/WiserTagged as: 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 6th Principle (World Community), 7th Principle (Interconnected Web), Awe, Brokenness, Caring, Community, Disaster, Healing, Nature, Transcendence, Unitarian Universalism -
”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/WiserTagged as: Brokenness, Buddhism, Compassion, Connections, Direct Experience, Healing, Mystery, Pain, Spiritual Practice, Spirituality, Unitarian Universalism -
There we were, two strangers idling at the red light―but I felt seen, and blessed, by a stranger.Reflection | By Erika Hewitt | March 15, 2017 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Body, Courage, Direct Experience, Healing, Hope, Humanism, Illness, Interdependence, Kindness, Mystery, Secular -
December 7, 2016 “Use loneliness. Its ache creates urgency to reconnect with the world.” — Natalie Goldberg I know a little about "merry" meeting "mess" at the holidays — and by a little I mean How much time have you got? Four Christmases ago, a painful break-up sent me spinning into a long...Reflection | By Erika Hewitt | December 7, 2016 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: Advent, Brokenness, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Commitment, God, Healing, Hope, Pain, Sadness, Spiritual Practice -
October 5, 2016 "The heart was made to be broken." ― Oscar Wilde I'm sitting here broken-hearted. I could try to convince you that it’s about the state of the world with its tragedies, suffering, and seeming lack of compassion, but it’s not. I’m broken-hearted because a relationship that had...Reflection | By Sean Parker Dennison | October 5, 2016 | From Braver/WiserTagged as: Brokenness, Character, Conflict, Healing, Hope, Integrity, Love, Relationships