Michael Valliant
@mvalliant306.bsky.social
Writer; father; Episcopal Priest; soul adventurer; creative nonfiction; storytelling; mysticism; comics; poetry; skateboarding; trail running; fountain pens, notebooks, life
“It is not our job to remain whole.
We came to lose our leaves
Like the trees, and be born again,
Drawing up from the great roots.”
—Robert Bly
We came to lose our leaves
Like the trees, and be born again,
Drawing up from the great roots.”
—Robert Bly
November 25, 2025 at 11:35 AM
“It is not our job to remain whole.
We came to lose our leaves
Like the trees, and be born again,
Drawing up from the great roots.”
—Robert Bly
We came to lose our leaves
Like the trees, and be born again,
Drawing up from the great roots.”
—Robert Bly
“Don’t you think it’s odd that we appreciate absurdity?”
“I suppose if we couldn’t laugh at things that don’t make sense, we couldn’t react to a lot of life.”
“I suppose if we couldn’t laugh at things that don’t make sense, we couldn’t react to a lot of life.”
November 24, 2025 at 11:03 AM
“Don’t you think it’s odd that we appreciate absurdity?”
“I suppose if we couldn’t laugh at things that don’t make sense, we couldn’t react to a lot of life.”
“I suppose if we couldn’t laugh at things that don’t make sense, we couldn’t react to a lot of life.”
“Poetry is ultimately mythology, the telling of the soul’s passage through the valley of this life, its adventure in time, in history.”
—Stanley Kunitz in conversation with Bill Moyers
—Stanley Kunitz in conversation with Bill Moyers
November 21, 2025 at 9:35 PM
“Poetry is ultimately mythology, the telling of the soul’s passage through the valley of this life, its adventure in time, in history.”
—Stanley Kunitz in conversation with Bill Moyers
—Stanley Kunitz in conversation with Bill Moyers
“We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.”
—T. S. Eliot, from “Four Quartets”
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.”
—T. S. Eliot, from “Four Quartets”
November 1, 2025 at 12:25 PM
“We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.”
—T. S. Eliot, from “Four Quartets”
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.”
—T. S. Eliot, from “Four Quartets”
“How surely gravity’s law,
strong as an ocean current,
takes hold of even the smallest thing
and pulls it toward the center of the world…
This is what things can teach us:
to fall,
patiently to trust our heaviness.”
—Rainer Maria Rilke
strong as an ocean current,
takes hold of even the smallest thing
and pulls it toward the center of the world…
This is what things can teach us:
to fall,
patiently to trust our heaviness.”
—Rainer Maria Rilke
October 28, 2025 at 11:21 AM
“How surely gravity’s law,
strong as an ocean current,
takes hold of even the smallest thing
and pulls it toward the center of the world…
This is what things can teach us:
to fall,
patiently to trust our heaviness.”
—Rainer Maria Rilke
strong as an ocean current,
takes hold of even the smallest thing
and pulls it toward the center of the world…
This is what things can teach us:
to fall,
patiently to trust our heaviness.”
—Rainer Maria Rilke
Yesterday I was handed a perfect fall leaf, deep red and wonderfully shaped—shared because we love and appreciate these things and the moments and wonder they give us.
Holding a gifted fall leaf up to the setting sun is its own prayer of thanks and wow.
Holding a gifted fall leaf up to the setting sun is its own prayer of thanks and wow.
October 10, 2025 at 8:39 AM
Yesterday I was handed a perfect fall leaf, deep red and wonderfully shaped—shared because we love and appreciate these things and the moments and wonder they give us.
Holding a gifted fall leaf up to the setting sun is its own prayer of thanks and wow.
Holding a gifted fall leaf up to the setting sun is its own prayer of thanks and wow.
“When you forgive, you are free to move on in life, to grow, to no longer be a victim. When you forgive, you slip the yoke, and your future is unshackled from your past.”
—Desmond Tutu and Mpho Tutu, “The Book of Forgiving”
—Desmond Tutu and Mpho Tutu, “The Book of Forgiving”
July 7, 2025 at 12:26 PM
“When you forgive, you are free to move on in life, to grow, to no longer be a victim. When you forgive, you slip the yoke, and your future is unshackled from your past.”
—Desmond Tutu and Mpho Tutu, “The Book of Forgiving”
—Desmond Tutu and Mpho Tutu, “The Book of Forgiving”
“Curiosity is what separates the truly alive from those who are merely going through the motions.”
—Tom Robbins
—Tom Robbins
July 3, 2025 at 1:10 PM
“Curiosity is what separates the truly alive from those who are merely going through the motions.”
—Tom Robbins
—Tom Robbins
“When we listen with our mind, we understand more of life. When we listen with our heart, we feel more of life. When we listen with our entire being and spirit, we are transformed and joined with life itself.”
—Mark Nepo, “Seven Thousand Ways to Listen”
—Mark Nepo, “Seven Thousand Ways to Listen”
June 30, 2025 at 10:53 AM
“When we listen with our mind, we understand more of life. When we listen with our heart, we feel more of life. When we listen with our entire being and spirit, we are transformed and joined with life itself.”
—Mark Nepo, “Seven Thousand Ways to Listen”
—Mark Nepo, “Seven Thousand Ways to Listen”
I love it when the evening light comes through the window with an intensity and a tone that says, “beauty emergency” (to borrow Maggie Smith’s phrase)—stop everything and go outside and stare at the sunset.
June 20, 2025 at 11:30 AM
I love it when the evening light comes through the window with an intensity and a tone that says, “beauty emergency” (to borrow Maggie Smith’s phrase)—stop everything and go outside and stare at the sunset.
Several times a day, on a good day, I stop and get lost in light, color, sound, a bird, a breeze, a thought, a feeling.
Rumi wrote:
“Mystics are experts in laziness. They rely on it, / because they continuously see God working all around them.”
Rumi wrote:
“Mystics are experts in laziness. They rely on it, / because they continuously see God working all around them.”
June 5, 2025 at 11:07 AM
Several times a day, on a good day, I stop and get lost in light, color, sound, a bird, a breeze, a thought, a feeling.
Rumi wrote:
“Mystics are experts in laziness. They rely on it, / because they continuously see God working all around them.”
Rumi wrote:
“Mystics are experts in laziness. They rely on it, / because they continuously see God working all around them.”
Saturday morning breeze and sunshine. Spurred on this week by a verse from Rumi:
“But don’t be satisfied with stories, how things
have gone with others. Unfold
your own myth, without complicated explanation,
so everyone will understand the passage,
‘We have opened you.’”
“But don’t be satisfied with stories, how things
have gone with others. Unfold
your own myth, without complicated explanation,
so everyone will understand the passage,
‘We have opened you.’”
May 31, 2025 at 1:59 PM
Saturday morning breeze and sunshine. Spurred on this week by a verse from Rumi:
“But don’t be satisfied with stories, how things
have gone with others. Unfold
your own myth, without complicated explanation,
so everyone will understand the passage,
‘We have opened you.’”
“But don’t be satisfied with stories, how things
have gone with others. Unfold
your own myth, without complicated explanation,
so everyone will understand the passage,
‘We have opened you.’”
"I dwell in Possibility."
—Emily Dickinson
📷: Charlie Wollborg
via Grateful Living
—Emily Dickinson
📷: Charlie Wollborg
via Grateful Living
May 30, 2025 at 12:32 PM
"I dwell in Possibility."
—Emily Dickinson
📷: Charlie Wollborg
via Grateful Living
—Emily Dickinson
📷: Charlie Wollborg
via Grateful Living
“Stop the words now.
Open the window in the center of your chest,
and let the spirits fly in and out.”
—Rumi
(translated by Coleman Barks)
Open the window in the center of your chest,
and let the spirits fly in and out.”
—Rumi
(translated by Coleman Barks)
May 28, 2025 at 10:28 AM
“Stop the words now.
Open the window in the center of your chest,
and let the spirits fly in and out.”
—Rumi
(translated by Coleman Barks)
Open the window in the center of your chest,
and let the spirits fly in and out.”
—Rumi
(translated by Coleman Barks)
“Listen, / maybe such devotion, in which one holds the world / in the clasp of attention, isn’t the perfect prayer, / but it must be close…”
—Mary Oliver
—Mary Oliver
May 26, 2025 at 10:55 AM
“Listen, / maybe such devotion, in which one holds the world / in the clasp of attention, isn’t the perfect prayer, / but it must be close…”
—Mary Oliver
—Mary Oliver
“Be a good steward of your gifts. Protect your time. Feed your inner life. Avoid too much noise. Read good books, have good sentences in your ears. Be by yourself as often as you can. Walk. Take the phone off the hook. Work regular hours.”
—Jane Kenyon
(Born on 5/23/1947)
—Jane Kenyon
(Born on 5/23/1947)
May 24, 2025 at 11:57 AM
“Be a good steward of your gifts. Protect your time. Feed your inner life. Avoid too much noise. Read good books, have good sentences in your ears. Be by yourself as often as you can. Walk. Take the phone off the hook. Work regular hours.”
—Jane Kenyon
(Born on 5/23/1947)
—Jane Kenyon
(Born on 5/23/1947)
There are different ways and reasons to love books. Apparently.
May 22, 2025 at 11:16 AM
There are different ways and reasons to love books. Apparently.
“Imagination is better than a sharp instrument. To pay attention, this is our endless and proper work.”
—Mary Oliver
—Mary Oliver
May 19, 2025 at 9:43 AM
“Imagination is better than a sharp instrument. To pay attention, this is our endless and proper work.”
—Mary Oliver
—Mary Oliver
Observed walking out of work last evening. I have been trained by Alice Walker never to pass by purple without marveling and wondering at it. Full stop.
May 15, 2025 at 10:43 AM
Observed walking out of work last evening. I have been trained by Alice Walker never to pass by purple without marveling and wondering at it. Full stop.
“We gather understanding toward a reality that keeps unfolding.”
—Mark Nepo
—Mark Nepo
May 11, 2025 at 9:55 AM
“We gather understanding toward a reality that keeps unfolding.”
—Mark Nepo
—Mark Nepo
A stroll around the yard this morning and an accompanying quote from Abraham Joshua Heschel:
“This is one of the rewards for being human: quiet exaltation, capability for celebration… a song every day, a song every day.”
“This is one of the rewards for being human: quiet exaltation, capability for celebration… a song every day, a song every day.”
May 3, 2025 at 11:49 AM
A stroll around the yard this morning and an accompanying quote from Abraham Joshua Heschel:
“This is one of the rewards for being human: quiet exaltation, capability for celebration… a song every day, a song every day.”
“This is one of the rewards for being human: quiet exaltation, capability for celebration… a song every day, a song every day.”
“When it's over, I want to say: all my life
I was a bride married to amazement.
I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.”
—Mary Oliver
I was a bride married to amazement.
I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.”
—Mary Oliver
April 27, 2025 at 10:49 AM
“When it's over, I want to say: all my life
I was a bride married to amazement.
I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.”
—Mary Oliver
I was a bride married to amazement.
I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.”
—Mary Oliver
“This is how it always is
when I finish a poem.
A great silence overcomes me,
and I wonder why I ever thought
to use language.”
—Rumi
(translated by Coleman Barks)
when I finish a poem.
A great silence overcomes me,
and I wonder why I ever thought
to use language.”
—Rumi
(translated by Coleman Barks)
April 24, 2025 at 11:43 AM
“This is how it always is
when I finish a poem.
A great silence overcomes me,
and I wonder why I ever thought
to use language.”
—Rumi
(translated by Coleman Barks)
when I finish a poem.
A great silence overcomes me,
and I wonder why I ever thought
to use language.”
—Rumi
(translated by Coleman Barks)
“Let the beauty we love be what we do.
There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.”
—Rumi
(translated by Coleman Barks)
There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.”
—Rumi
(translated by Coleman Barks)
April 16, 2025 at 12:01 PM
“Let the beauty we love be what we do.
There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.”
—Rumi
(translated by Coleman Barks)
There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.”
—Rumi
(translated by Coleman Barks)
“Gift” by Czeslaw Milosz. I love this as a perspective for a good day, a gift. Clearly a precursor to Ice Cube’s song ;)
April 11, 2025 at 9:22 AM
“Gift” by Czeslaw Milosz. I love this as a perspective for a good day, a gift. Clearly a precursor to Ice Cube’s song ;)