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  • At a beach, with the ocean in the distance, a scraggly tree is decked out in Christmas ornaments
    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.
    Reflection | By Alex Haider-Winnett | December 12, 2018 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Christmas Eve / Christmas, Direct Experience, Simplicity, Summer Solstice, Winter
  • A conceptual photograph showing the silhouette of a person pulling back a curtain of darkness to reveal a new, better world.
    Advent is about expectation—radical expectations that undo the status quo—and anticipation: a skillful search for the places where liberation rises from the ashes.
    Reflection | By Robin Tanner | December 5, 2018 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Advent, Anti-Oppression, Christianity, Direct Experience, Patience, Power, Presence, Progress
  • A content kitten rests its chin on an outstretched hand.
    What, exactly, are we doing when we invite love into our lives? Surely we know that it's much tidier without it, when things stay at a distance.
    Reflection | By Amanda Poppei | November 28, 2018 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Animals, Direct Experience, Love, Parents, Relationships, Vulnerability
  • The feet and legs of several members of the Narragansett tribe, in traditional dress, at their 2012 pow-wow.
    Something new could come out of this moment of discomfort; something like healing. This is our opportunity to reimagine what Thanksgiving could be — and who we could be.
    Reflection | By Daniel Gregoire | November 21, 2018 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: America, Anti-Oppression, Direct Experience, History, Indigenous American, Responsibility, Thanksgiving
  • A Black woman, sitting on a couch, smiles as she opens a box.
    A white woman pulled over and ran over to me with a shopping bag. As I looked down at the bag, I had very mixed emotions.
    Reflection | By Rayla D. Mattson | November 14, 2018 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Caring, Connections, Contemplation, Direct Experience, Faith, Generosity, Grace, Gratitude, Kindness, Parents, Race/Ethnicity
  • The corner of a gravestone, which is bedecked with toys and flowers and a fake butterfly stuck in the grass.
    In my small-town congregation, our beloved dead seem to linger with us for a little while.
    Reflection | By Elea Kemler | October 31, 2018 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), All Souls Day, Awe, Death, Día de los Muertos, Direct Experience, Generations, Grief, Love, Memorial Services, Mystery, Remembrance Day, Sorrow
  • A crowd of concert-goers, in silhouette, against the bright colors and band on a stage.
    God is not a distant force, far away. God is in the beating of our hearts and the backbeat of a funky baseline. God is in a four-on-the-floor drum fill, and in the achy joints and sore muscles the day after.
    Reflection | By Alex Haider-Winnett | October 24, 2018 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Arts & Music, Awe, Body, Culture, Direct Experience, God, Immanence, Joy, Letting Go, Spiritual Practice, Young Adults
  • In a kiln, a red glow of fire holds the shape of a ceramic pot.
    What had to die was my shame: my belief that I was not worthy of such love. I discovered a greater love within myself as a creation of God, worthy of these gifts.
    Reflection | By Rebekah Savage | October 17, 2018 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Brokenness, Death, Direct Experience, Islam, Love, Pain, Relationships, Self-Respect
  • Two children run -- one is mid-jump -- through an alley, smiling.
    We could see the main path to the swimming hole ahead, but we had to pick our way through sand spurs to get there. Behind us were rattlesnakes. What did the youth do? They started playing.
    Reflection | By Teresa Honey Youngblood | October 10, 2018 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Children, Choice, Direct Experience, Discernment, Earth, Joy, Nature, Playfulness, Salvation
  • A large wave crashes against a metal structure, with icebergs in the distance
    Emotional tempests aren’t always easy to weather — pain, grief, disappointment, even love — but the flatness of life without such currents is the slow silence of drowning.
    Reflection | By Lindasusan Ulrich | October 3, 2018 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Brokenness, Hope, Pain
  • In a dark room, a circle of blurred people holding hands while also holding candles.
    I trusted the woman at the pharmacy to be capable of hearing hard truth. Bless her wounded heart with its internalized misogyny. She just wants women to love and support each other. Thank you. Me too.
    Reflection | By Misha Sanders | September 26, 2018 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Anger, Anti-Oppression, Body, Direct Experience, Fat Liberation, Men, Mothers, Self-Care, Violence, Women
  • From above, seven people hold hands around a table before eating.
    Our family prays at mealtime to practice gratitude in our lives. I love that my children are taking it as their own, finding their own meaning.
    Reflection | By Christian Schmidt | September 19, 2018 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Children, Direct Experience, Parents, Playfulness, Unitarian Universalism
  • A large seagull, wings outspread against a blue sky, gazes down at the photographer
    Who are the angry birds in my life? What are the sticks I carry in my heart so as not to be hurt again?
    Reflection | By Yuri Yamamoto | September 12, 2018 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), America, Animals, Anti-Oppression, Community, Direct Experience, Earth, Earth-Centered, Fear, Inclusion, Nature, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Race/Ethnicity, Self-Respect
  • From behind, the shoulders and heads of a mother and toddler gazing into a pond. Both are wearing Minnie Mouse ears.
    It's an impulse of the human self to be known fully, and that’s almost never possible unless we risk the conversations that help us see past our initial impressions.
    Reflection | By Amanda Poppei | September 5, 2018 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Anti-Oppression, Connections, Direct Experience, Empathy, Family, Humanism, Humility, Identity, Individualism, Listening, Playfulness, Secular
  • In a dark room, a lighted mobile over a baby's crib throws colored stars of light onto the walls.
    This is a story of in-the-middle for those wondering how their story ends.
    Reflection | By Robin Tanner | August 29, 2018 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Choice, Direct Experience, Fear, Hope, Humanism, Illness, Limitations, Parents, Psychology, Searching, Secular, Solidarity, Worry
  • A black man, with his back to the camera, stands on a street corner
    Black people are so accustomed to being ignored and invisible that a simple acknowledgement—a simple I see you—from a peer goes a long way.
    Reflection | By DeReau K. Farrar | August 22, 2018 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), America, Direct Experience, Fathers, Friendship, Identity, Parents, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Race/Ethnicity, Solidarity
  • A bright design, in chalk, on the sidewalk is blurred by rain. A person's feet are visible walking.
    May we find unexpected ways to remember where we came from and imagine where we may go next. May we find touchstones of our pasts, and may they become a foundation for the future.
    Reflection | By Alex Haider-Winnett | August 15, 2018 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Body, Change, Direct Experience, Earth, Home, Nature, Sadness, Searching, Secular
  • As an ocean wave splashes, a surfboard and a pair of legs are shown mid-wipeout.
    If a friend were in my situation, I would have seen their failings as human. So why hold someone to an unforgiving standard just because that someone is me?
    Reflection | By Kat Liu | August 8, 2018 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Character, Children, Compassion, Direct Experience, Forgiveness, Friendship, Humility, Kindness, Love, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Self-Care, Self-Respect
  • Two pieces of colored chalk, lying on a flat chalkboard, with a multi-colored heart drawn on it.
    It is my only memory of a lesson from Kindergarten Sunday School class. Maybe it’s the only one that counts.
    Reflection | By Misha Sanders | August 1, 2018 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), Acceptance, Children, Direct Experience, Forgiveness, God, Grace, Imagination, Love, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Relationships, Transcendence, Unitarian Universalism
  • Winding skid marks of a vehicle on a street.
    Almost every person I told about my family's near-accident told me that it was God intervening. But that’s not fair to us, and it’s not fair to God.
    Reflection | By Nathan Ryan | June 13, 2018 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: God, Gratitude