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 1 - 10 of 10

  • Sometimes love is simply letting someone else like what they like.
    Reflection | By Nathan Ryan | April 14, 2021 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Children, Connections, Direct Experience, Fathers, Generations, Joy, Love, Parents, Searching, Worship
  • A triumph of love over death is the core of the Easter message.
    Reflection | By Rachel Lonberg | March 31, 2021 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Beauty, Christianity, Death, Easter, Joy, Love, Worship
  • The stories remind us there is still and always joy in this world, but it usually comes right alongside the struggle.
    Reflection | By Elea Kemler | December 16, 2020 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Advent, Christianity, Christmas Eve / Christmas, Direct Experience, Hope, Joy, Searching, Worship
  • We can be cheerleaders for simple joys (even when we don't share them) and compassionate about the fact that we’re all just trying to survive.
    Reflection | By Erika Hewitt | November 6, 2019 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Arrogance, Beauty, Direct Experience, Discernment, Humanism, Joy, Secular, Self-Care, Self-Respect
  • 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
  • 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
  • “Now,” the yoga instructor said, “begin to chant GOD GOD GOD as you vigorously circle your arms.” Oh boy, I thought, Here we go. Of course it couldn’t just be arm circles.
    Reflection | By Tara Humphries | February 7, 2018 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Arts & Music, Challenge, God, Interfaith, Joy, Letting Go, Spiritual Practice
  • I wanted so badly to break free and let loose—but I just couldn't. I was stuck in my own false ideas of the congregation's expectations of me. Luckily, there’s still time.
    Reflection | By DeReau K. Farrar | January 16, 2018 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 4th Principle (Truth & Meaning), Acceptance, Arts & Music, Body, Direct Experience, Empathy, Freedom, Joy, Limitations, Multiculturalism, Race/Ethnicity, Self-Respect
  • “It takes a village to raise a child. It takes a child with autism to raise the consciousness of the village.” —Elaine Hall, educator and parenting coach My three-year-old is almost completely nonverbal. Every day when she gets off the bus, I ask her the same question: I ask her how her day...
    Reflection | By Rayla D. Mattson | November 22, 2017 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: 3rd Principle (Acceptance & Spiritual Growth), Acceptance, Children, Direct Experience, Disability, Joy, Mothers, Multiculturalism, Parents
  • Life is full of seesaws: it offers us moments of extreme wonder and moments of fear. Sometimes you have to live through the fear for the wonder to arrive.
    Reflection | By Elizabeth Harding | September 27, 2017 | From Braver/Wiser
    Tagged as: Awe, Death, Direct Experience, Fear, Humanism, Joy, Secular, Wonder

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