The Walking Mentorship, Day 6 A Strategic Architecture for Your Life

The Walking Mentorship, Day 6 A Strategic Architecture for Yur Life Joo Perre Viana is the mastermind behind theWalking Mentorshipprogram, an innovative one-week experience that helps people face their personal andprofessionalchallenges while taking a120-kilometer (74.5-mile) hike alongthe Camino de Santiago.The purpose of this methodology is to help gain perspective on what is important (both personally and professionally), update our reality maps, and create an action plan for the future, Viana says.On Sunday, August 28, Viana embarked on his latest hike.Over the course of the week, he journaled about thejourney he and his participants were on. Were publishing those journal entries. Read the rest of the seriespart 0,part 1,part 2,part 3, part 4, and part 5.- Ed. Note.One one hand, it ishard to believe that we are already on the sixth day of our journey. On the other, when I close my eyes and think about the intensity of every experience, laugh, pain , and blister we haveshared, I can feel a bond only accessible topeople who have spent a great deal of time together people whodare to open their hearts to friendship.Miracles seem to happen everyday if yourepaying attention to them. Atleast, thats the way I think every morning when I wake up.Today, we saw an even bigger miracle than usual whenour injured companion overcome theirelephant foot and, defying the laws of human limits, walked side by side with the rest of us, looking healthier and healthier as the kilometers passed underneath our boots.I am tempted to say that the special hospitality and thedeep love and respect provided by Andrea and Cristina, the Italian couple that runs Casa Leiras, were directly responsible for our companionsrecovery. In the past, I have witnessed similar happenings in the same place.When medicine is short, love seems to do the rest and yes, we did also drink an amazing limoncello that might have helped.Throughout most of our morning journey, the route ran through a spectacular forest. We continued through two little villages, Castro and A Carballeira, until we saw the magnificent Pico Sacro, the massive needle-shaped mountain we first saw two days ago. We then began our descent to the Ulla river.Entering the municipality of Vedra, we crossed at A Ponte Ulla. Once wecrossed the Ulla, we took anice break at the restaurant of seniorra Ilda, who is a good friend of The Walking Mentorship. After that, we started our incredible 300-meter ascent to Outeiro, which gave us a beautiful view of the river and a brutal temperature of 35 degrees Celsius (95 Fahrenheit).After six days on the road, however, our bodieshadadapted to very different rhythms and routines. For some of us, moments like this ascent urge us to push ourselves, to try longer distances in the future and keep developing our walking philosophies.In the afternoon, we took a longer break than usual so that we could reflect on our growth and start to think aboutour individ ual strategies going forward. We built the first drafts of our strategic architectures, which give usmore defined pictures of the better selves we wished to be in the future.In the evening, we visited one of the characters of this route and aelendher good friend of the program, Don Manolo. He isthe owner of the Pazo de Galegos hotel, atrue gem that isonly accessible to those whoknow where to find it. If our legs and souls were already in heaven thanks to the hike,now it was our stomachs turn. It is hard to select the best part of our meal was it theham, the empanada, the pimientos de Padron, the lemon and salty shrimp, or the bull stake? Maybe it was the house wine or the strawberries with creamvery hard to say.Our journey is approaching Santiago. There are only 16 kilometers to go. At the same time, we are approaching better understandingsof what we want to change and improve inour lives.As the mentor of this one-of-a-kind group, Ive started feeling that my task is almost accompli shed. I know that this will not be an easy night for me to sleep. The certainty that I will never live this wonderful week with these marvelous people again makes me a bit sad.But the certainty that we lived all of this together has helped me drymy internal tears.Tomorrow, we will walk a little more.Ultreia et Suseia,JoaoPhotos of Day 6Joo Perre Viana foundedtheWalking Mentorshipprogram.