Editor's Note: Sonia Choquette, the author of this artcle, will be speaking about Walking Home at I Can Do It! London 2015 this September in the UK. Click here to learn all about his talk and to book your ticket to the event.

Sonia Choquette, spiritual teacher, intuitive coach and author, lost her brother and father in the course of six weeks and found herself in dire need of the very help she had been offering to others for decades. Her already crumbling marriage caved in under the grief of the loss and resurfacing of buried emotions. You’ll find her moving story of rediscovery and redemption in her new memoir  Walking Home: From Humbled to Healed.

I was in pain, alone, and for the first time in my life, unsure of my next steps. I asked my spirit guides for help after all the other tools I’d been teaching to others for years had failed to piece me back together again. I set off alone on a pilgrimage along the Pyrenees Mountains – the famous pilgrimage known as the Camino de Santiago.  Along with facing a mountain range, I also faced all the old emotions from past traumas and issues I had spiritualized away or buried deep within.  As I began over a month long journey, old emotions started breaking up, forgiveness flowed in and little pieces of myself that I didn’t even know I’d lost came back.  Step by step, I started to heal and feel again.  Step by step, something big was happening inside.  Almost 40 days and thousands of steps later, I walked myself back to a profound level of wholeness I had never known existed. 

If you’ve ever suffered a loss so great that your entire world turned upside down, leaving you feeling alone, uncertain and lost, I hope my book – Walking Home  will give you the faith, compassion and love you need to get to wholeness again.

You don’t have to travel a road as long and challenging as the one I took, however. You can return to wholeness and reconnect with the greater Source that is all around you, even without the long trek. You can create your own personal vision quest wherever you are with the resources you have right now. It’s the idea and the desire that matter.

Follow These 10 Steps To Go On A Personal Vision Quest

1. Pick a weekend, a day or even a few hours you can dedicate to you alone.
2. Pick a new environment, like a new city, state, or even a park you’ve never been to before.  The point is to get out of your comfort zone.
3. Pack a bag of bare necessities including a journal, a pen, some snacks and toiletries if you staying overnight.
4. Open your mind.  If you have a music player, download some meditation music or relaxing music you can use to ease your mind and uplift your spirits.
5. Make a commitment to quiet your mind and ask for guidance while on your Personal Vision Quest. 
6. Take a stroll in your new environment.  Notice the new sights, sounds, smells and how you feel experiencing all of it.  Journal your feelings when you stop to eat a snack.
7. Try something new.  Visit that new museum, take a class, or go to dinner all by yourself. 
8. Focus on one question you’d like answered during your quest and have faith that the answer will come once you acknowledge and then release the question.
9. Savor every moment you have during this time you’ve given yourself.  Recognize that this is one of the greatest gifts you could ever give yourself, your family and your friends.  Be grateful you were open to giving this time to yourself.
10. Journal about your experience and write the answer you were given during your quest.  Even if it doesn’t make sense to you at the time, write it down.  You can go back in a week and review your experience.  You may be very surprised at all the wisdom within you when you take the time and ask for what you need.

Remember, the outcome is not as important as the journey itself.  A vision quest is a great way to encourage a time of reflection in your life and oftentimes, sparks a renewal for new lessons to come into your awareness.  Join me on my weekly Hay House Radio Show on Wednesdays at 9 AM PST and see my book, Walking Home for more guidance.