When You Can’t Find the Answer, Take It to the Trails
I stood at the edge of the river, looking across the bridge that leads to my favorite hiking trail. It was a Friday morning, and I’d been wrestling with a question I couldn’t answer sitting in my office.
I'd been working on the manuscript for my second book, Walking with the Sage, which focuses on the practice of accessing your inner wisdom through intentional time in nature. But staring at the computer screen, I was stuck on “the hows.” How do I share this? How do I guide others through this practice? What does that even look like?
So I did what the book itself teaches. I headed into nature.
I approached the river as an intentional threshold, a crossing from my everyday life into a quiet space where I could listen and allow the process to unfold. I took a deep breath in and stepped onto the bridge.
As I walked, I held my question lightly: How do I get this work out into the world? Once on the other side of the bridge, I turned onto the trail and I let the question go, surrendering it to the rhythm of my steps and the presence of nature.
For the first 45 minutes, I simply enjoyed the hike. I noticed the light filtering through the trees, the sound of the river below, the way my body found its pace. I wasn't trying to solve anything. I was just present.
And then, the insight arrived – not as an answer to my question, but as a realization that shifted everything.
I realized that I was walking the trails on a Friday morning. And this was my job! This life that took me so long to curate and the work I loved to do was real. It was actually happening.
I continued walking and was struck with an image. I saw myself as a child, growing up in a city a mile from Manhattan, surrounded by apartment buildings, boulevards and concrete. How did that kid get here?
Suddenly, I was flooded with memories of all the people that helped that little girl get to where she was today. I recalled all the support I'd received through childhood, teenage years, college and my business career. There were so many who offered help along the way – those who encouraged and provided the motivation – and most importantly, believed in me.
There were teachers, mentors, friends and colleagues, as well as those who inspired me every day. On every step of my journey, I'd had guides. I'd never been alone. And they ensured and celebrated my successes.
That’s when the question I was carrying was answered with a question. Why would this time be any different?
This insight brought tears to my eyes in its simplicity. I didn’t need a strategy or a plan. I just needed a reminder that I’d always been supported, always found my way. All I needed to do was trust it.
I was so energized by this process that I decided to explore the idea of offering a sage walk to others. Not wanting to forget anything that unfolded that morning, I hiked back to the river, retrieved my phone from my backpack and recorded a long voice memo, detailing what transpired. I also knew the person I was going to contact to start exploring this idea.
I crossed back over the river threshold into my everyday life, energized and clear about my next step.
That walk changed everything. Not just how I thought about sharing my work, but how I understood the practice itself. The sage walk isn't about forcing answers. It's about creating the conditions for wisdom to emerge—and trusting what comes through.
What a Sage Walk Is and Why It Works
A sage walk is intentional time in nature that accesses your inner wisdom—the guidance of your future, wiser self.
It's a moving meditation with purpose. You bring a question, a challenge or simply an openness to what wants to emerge. Then you let the rhythm of your steps, the presence of nature and the wisdom of your sage self guide you forward.
Here's why it works when other practices don't. Meditation requires a quiet mind, which is nearly impossible when you're in the middle of a life transition and your thoughts won't stop spinning. Journaling requires attention, which is hard when you're confused about what you're feeling or what comes next.
Nature requires nothing. You just need to show up.
When you step outside, your body begins to move and your senses engage. Your analytical mind, the one that's been trying so hard to figure everything out, finally gets a break. You're not forcing insight. You're creating the conditions for it to emerge. Movement plus nature plus presence equals a portal to wisdom.
And… you don't need to be a hiker. You don't need trails or mountains or hours of time. A park bench, your backyard, a quiet outdoor space – any of these will work. Five minutes is enough to start. This practice isn't about distance or duration. It's about presence.
Try This: Cultivating Presence in Nature
Ready for a mini-experiment to experience this for yourself? Here's how to begin:
Find a spot outside. Sit or stand, and spend 5 minutes settling into your senses:
o What do you see? Notice colors, light, movement
o What do you hear? Birds, wind, distant sounds
o What do you feel? Temperature, breeze, ground beneath you
o What do you smell? Earth, flowers, air
o What arises? Once your senses are engaged, notice what thoughts, feelings, or insights emerge
This simple practice engages your body and quiets your analytical mind. It creates space for your intuition to speak.
Try This: The Walking Practice
If you want to go deeper, try walking. Here’s how to begin:
Bring a question. It can be something you've been struggling with, a decision you need to make or simply an openness to what your sage self wants you to know.
Find a threshold, such as a bridge, a gate, a trailhead, even the edge of a park. As you cross it, hold your question lightly. Then let it go.
Surrender it to the rhythm of your steps and the presence of nature.
Walk. Notice. Be present.
The answer may come in the first five minutes or the last. It may arrive as words, images, feelings or simply a sense of knowing. Don't force it.
Most importantly, trust the process. The wisdom you're seeking is already inside you. Nature just helps you hear it.
The Sage’s Invitation
The sage walk process helped me transition into a deeper realm of work I now offer to students and clients. The process gave me access to the clarity I couldn't find at my desk or in my journal. It helped me hear my future self's wisdom when my present self was too close to the confusion to see clearly.
It became so central to my journey that it's woven throughout my upcoming book, Walking with the Sage: A Story of Leaving Everything to Find More, which will be published on April 7th.
These days, when I lead intentional hikes for Athena Wellness and the Sierra Club, I witness the same transformation I experienced again and again. People arrive carrying questions they can't answer, emotions they can't process, or simply a sense of being stuck. And somewhere along the trail—sometimes in the first mile, sometimes in the last—something shifts. The answer comes. The clarity arrives. The next step reveals itself.
I hope you give it a try. Your sage self is waiting. Nature is ready to help you hear her. The answer you've been searching for might be waiting just outside your door.
All you have to do is step outside and listen.
Journal Reflections: When was the last time you spent intentional time in nature just being present? What do you notice when you settle into your senses for just 5 minutes outside? What question or challenge are you carrying that you could take on a sage walk?
P.S. Ready to explore your next life phase? If so, I've created a special gift just for you! It’s a guide called 5 Questions to Explore a Soulful Second Chapter. It contains the type of reflective work that gave me the courage to make my midlife transition. You can download it for free at athenawellness.com/reimagine.
Links:
YouTube: The Athena Wellness Channel
Work with Kathy: Coaching Opportunities
Email Kathy: hello@athenawellness.com