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 21 - 28 of 28

  • May we all remember how inextricably we are linked in this fight for justice and freedom.
    Reflection | By Otto O’Connor | June 10, 2020 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: #BlackLivesMatter, 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), Direct Experience, Generations, History, Justice, Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Queer, Pride Sunday, Race/Ethnicity, Responsibility, Secular, Solidarity, Unitarian Universalism
  • With a single generous gesture from my older child, her sister's belief in Santa stayed intact that year.
    Reflection | By Karen G. Johnston | December 4, 2019 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Christmas Eve / Christmas, Direct Experience, Family, Generations, Generosity, Parents, Prophetic Words & Deeds, Tradition
  • 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.
    Reflection | By Rayla D. Mattson | January 16, 2019 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Body, Children, Choice, Direct Experience, Generations, History, Parents, Privilege
  • 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
  • My oldest child was confused: why would no one stop and help us? Even though people weren’t stopping to help us, my son said, he wanted to be more like me and stop to help someone anyway.
    Reflection | By Rayla D. Mattson | January 3, 2018 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), Caring, Character, Children, Compassion, Conscience, Direct Experience, Generations, Integrity, Living Our Faith, Mothers, Parents
  • Believe that further shore
 Is reachable from here. 
Believe in miracle 
And cures and healing wells. —Seamus Heaney, “The Cure at Troy” With a name like mine, it’s easy to guess I’m Irish. My forebears were among the millions who struggled to escape Ireland’s disastrous Potato...
    Reflection | By Maureen Killoran | March 22, 2017 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Direct Experience, Family, Generations, History, Hope, Immigration
  • I am ever grateful for the friends who are my family; who have pieced me together each time I’ve fallen apart; who laugh, cry, dream, and age happily by my side.
    Reflection | By Marisol Caballero | December 28, 2016 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Acceptance, Caring, Child Dedication, Children, Family, Fathers, Forgiveness, Generations, Humanism, International, Mothers, Secular
  • It took me 37 years to recognize that I had been cloistered off from the beauty, the richness, and the heartbreaking complexity of other people’s experiences.
    Reflection | By Teresa Honey Youngblood | September 28, 2016 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 1st Principle (Worth & Dignity), 2nd Principle (Justice, Equity, & Compassion), 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), 6th Principle (World Community), America, Anti-Oppression, Direct Experience, Family, Generations, History, Humanism, Race/Ethnicity, Secular

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