Valerie Hart is a coach, guide and company co-founder. She has coached me, hypnotized me, led me on hikes and introduced me to such concepts as QiGong and reframing. In the course of our work together over the past 3 years, she has become my good friend, as well.
Valerie’s Wisdom Journey from Science to Serenity
Valerie Hart is a former FBI forensic scientist who gave up a coveted, big-city career path in favor of the narrower, wooded paths and moss-lined trails deep in the Monongahela Forest.
In this deep, authentic wisdom conversation, you will discover why Valerie made that transition. Plus you’ll learn about:
- The incredible power of intuition
- How to listen for and connect with your inner voice
- Tapping into the inner wisdom that’s already present deep within your soul
- An upcoming guided nature event with a special discount for listeners
More About Our Wise Guest – Valerie Hart
A lifelong nature enthusiast, Valerie grew up exploring the wild, wonderful woods of West Virginia. As co-founder of Wonder and Grow and coordinator of Randolph County Outdoors, Valerie helps others cultivate awareness, trust their inner wisdom and deepen their connection with the natural world.
This former FBI forensic scientist is now a certified mindful outdoor guide, certified interpretive guide, mindful communication facilitator, yoga instructor and West Virginia master naturalist. In her free time, Valerie finds joy in climbing trees, singing, backpacking, fossil hunting, petting moss and savoring coffee on her front porch. Valerie and her family live in Elkins, West Virginia.
Now, a deep, cleansing breath in … and release—slowly exhaling. Over the next 25 minutes you will discover why Valerie Hart is one of the wisest people I know.
Resources
Wonder and Grow website
Wild Edge Retreat – Spruce Knob – Aug. 7-10, 2025 – registration page
Connect with Valerie on LinkedIn
Credits
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Episode Chapters
[0:04:30] – How Skip and Valerie are connected
[0:05:30] – Working at the FBI
[0:10:58] – Valerie shares her main thing
[0:12:00] – Intuition – what is it; and how to tap into it?
[0:14:08] – Why surprise is not a bad thing
[0:18:07] – All about the upcoming Wild Edge Retreat – Aug. 2025
[0:20:58] – Journaling and noticing – two valuable mindfulness practices
Episode Keywords
Wisdom, Transformation, Wellness, Intuition, Noticing, Nature, Seasons, Transitions, Decision-making, Mindful Outdoor Guide, Choir, Self-doubt, Community, Gratitude, FBI, Forensic Science, Puzzles, Healing, Insights, Forest, Mountain, Monongahela, Spruce Knob, Hiking, Meditation, Journaling, Elkins, West Virginia
Full Transcript of Episode
0:00:00 – Announcer
Wisdom. It’s an incredibly valuable asset, some would say more precious than gold. It’s attractive, appealing, admirable. Conversely, a lack of wisdom is the basis of immaturity, blind spots and bad decisions. Wisdom, it can be gained over time, but it can’t be rushed. But wisdom can be shared. That’s precisely what we are here to do right now. Today, we are here to hack wisdom, to distill it, to understand it and to process it. Why? To get better at life. Welcome to the Main Thing.
This is your new nine-minute podcast. I’m your host, Skip Lineberg, and I’ve set out to interview the wisest people I know. We’ll see what we can learn from each one when they’re faced with an incredibly difficult, soul-piercing question.
0:00:58 – Skip Lineberg
Welcome to your wisdom podcast. If you’re new, let me introduce myself. I’m Skip Lineberg, and I’ll be your host for the next 25 minutes.
If you’re a subscriber or a returning listener, welcome back to this cozy learning space where we gather two times a month to hear from one of the wisest people around. As we study their wisdom and learn together, we get a little better at life.
Today, you’re in for a real treat, as we take you inside a wisdom lesson from my friend and personal advisor, Valerie Hart. She’s a former FBI forensic scientist. Yeah, that’s right, she worked for the FBI. She’s a bit of a badass.
Today Valerie is co-founder of a wellness company. In this wisdom conversation, you will learn about connecting with your inner voice, tapping into the wisdom that’s already present deep within yourself. You’ll learn about an exciting event coming up in August of 2025 that’s open for you to learn, participate and experience in the healing power of nature. And, of course, as always, you will hear the main thing Valerie has learned in her lifetime so far.
Now here’s a bit more about our wise guest, Valerie Hart. A lifelong nature enthusiast, Valerie grew up exploring the wild, wonderful woods of West Virginia. As co-founder of Wonder and Grow and coordinator of Randolph County Outdoors, Valerie helps others cultivate awareness, trust their inner wisdom and deepen their connection with the natural world.
This former FBI forensic scientist is now a certified mindful outdoor guide, certified interpretive guide, mindful communication facilitator, yoga instructor and West Virginia master naturalist. In her free time, Valerie finds joy in climbing trees, singing, backpacking, fossil hunting, petting moss and savoring coffee on her front porch. Valerie and her family live in Elkins, West Virginia, where she joins us today.
Now settle in, take a deep breath, hold it and release, exhaling slowly. Over the next 25 minutes, you will discover why Valerie Hart is one of the wisest people I know.
0:03:29 – Skip
Valerie Hart, welcome to The Main Thing Podcast.
0:03:33 – Valerie Hart
Hi, Skip, good to see you. Thanks for having me.
0:03:36 – Skip
Yeah, it’s great to be with you. Spring is here. I’m looking out my window above the studio here and I see forsythia. I know the daffodils are poking up out of the ground along the streets, dogwood and redbud are blooming and it’s just, it’s beautiful and it’s like, so like I was so starved for that after this winter. What’s your favorite season, Valerie?
0:03:57 – Valerie Hart
Every time I hear this question, I’ve always struggled answering it, and it hit me recently that I realized that I actually really love the transition between seasons. So it really came full force recently, noticing the signs of spring like you just mentioned. The snowdrops are a big cue for me. When spring is coming, it’s so exciting. It’s like being a little kid and noticing all the new signs of the seasons.
0:04:23 – Skip
We’re going to talk about an exciting upcoming event that you and I are both involved in. But before we do that, I just wanted to help our listeners understand how we’re connected. And so we’re connected through a mutual friend by the name of Kate Reed, who, if that name sounds familiar listeners, she was our guest on Episode 87. And she is your friend and business partner.
0:04:45 – Valerie Hart
Yes.
0:04:45 – Skip
Yeah, tell us a bit more about Kate: how you guys met and what you love most about her.
0:04:50 – Valerie Hart
Oh my gosh. So Kate and I we met when we were 10 years old, actually at Girl Scout Camp, and we became instant friends. We went to different schools, but we instantly connected and throughout the years we did lots of different things together. And we ended up going to the same college and grad school and different programs, but we were always connected in some way. And it’s just been this amazing friendship that’s evolved over time, and I just love everything about her.
0:05:20 – Skip
Valerie, one of the things that is just notable and fascinating about you is that you worked for the FBI as a forensic scientist. Just tell us a little bit about that. Why were you drawn to that? How did you get into it? And maybe talk a little bit about your experience while you were there.
0:05:38 – Valerie Hart
Yes, working at the FBI was definitely a huge part of my life and it’s so interesting to think back on how I got there. And it’s interesting because my mom was a science teacher her whole career and then my dad my dad was an attorney.
So it’s so interesting because forensic science is basically science as it applies to the law and the justice system. So I kind of took a combination of my parents’ paths and kind of formed my own. And I had wanted to do it since I was in middle school and it’s like this wanting to help people and kind of seeking the truth. I’ve always had that inside of me, wanting to seek the truth. Also I love to solve puzzles. And forensic science is really just like a big puzzle looking at the different clues and going from there.
0:06:20 – Skip
Once you knew you wanted to do that, was it hard to get into?
0:06:22 – Valerie Hart
Yes, definitely. It’s a very long path to get there. I got my chemistry degree from Wesleyan, and then I went and got a master’s in forensic science from George Washington. And that was a life-changing experience too. A lot of my professors were actually people that worked in the field, so that gave me some connections into different career paths I could go into. I worked for the State of Virginia for a while and eventually got in with the FBI. And the training program there was another two years once I got to the FBI, so it was a very long process to get to where I eventually ended up. I learned a lot along the way. I was in the forensic science field for about 14 years.
0:07:02 – Skip
Talk a little bit about the arduous kind of exhausting, maybe emotionally-painful nature of the work that you did and how that kind of took a toll on you.
0:07:12 – Valerie Hart
Working there was my dream job. That’s what I wanted to do. I wanted to help people. But the nature of that field is that you see all the negative things that happen in the world. Everything you see in the news, the bad things that happen in the world, come across your desk and that takes a huge toll on anybody working that field. You end up having to set up walls for yourself in order to get through it.
0:07:35 – Skip
Yeah, I imagine that would be grueling.
0:07:39 – Valerie Hart
Yeah, it was a lot and I definitely started to notice more of the impact it had on me as the years went by. And then as I had kids … and realizing how it was affecting my relationship with my kids and different things … and just my overall health and wellbeing was being affected, because I wasn’t taking care of myself throughout this.
0:07:58 – Skip
Was there like a particular moment where you knew like, okay, this is it, I’m done. Or was it kind of a buildup?
0:08:05 – Valerie Hart
I definitely felt like I was being drained and I needed to get out, but at the same time, that was a scary thing to think about. You know, I worked my whole life to get to this point yeah. And what’s really interesting too, is I reconnected with Kate during this time when we were both kind of struggling with a lot of physical symptoms, mental symptoms, mental health. And we started talking more and learning more about mindfulness and meditation. I started taking more walks outside in the woods during my lunch break.
And through this whole process I kind of had this feeling … this rejuvenated sense that, like, I know this is not my path anymore … but I’m going to stay here as long as I need. And I knew there was something else out there for me. I just hadn’t figured it out yet.
0:08:50 – Skip
Yeah, it sounds like you were very self-aware, but also patient. You didn’t make a hasty exit.
0:08:59 – Valerie Hart
Yes, and it’s interesting, because as I got more into learning about mindfulness and nature connection and all the healing properties it has, my co-workers started to notice that as well. There was definitely a huge shift in how I presented myself.
And it was interesting that my coworkers would walk into my desk and they would just stop and they would just go, “Ahhh.” They would sigh and be like it feels really good right here. So it was really interesting to see that, um, how my coworkers started to notice how everything changed for me.
0:09:29 – Skip
You were coping better, and you had better energy.
0:09:32 – Valerie Hart
Yes absolutely.
0:09:33 – Skip
Well thanks for sharing that. It’s not every day that you meet and get to speak to someone who worked for the FBI. So thank you for taking us inside that chapter of your life.
0:09:40 – Valerie Hart
Yeah, of course
0:09:43 – Announcer
One. Nine. Two. 192 extra minutes of wisdom. That’s what you get when you become a patron of the Main Thing podcast. Many of you continue to say we want to hear more from these wise guests. That’s precisely what patrons of our podcast get Exclusive access to bonus episodes called the Whole Thing. These 30-minute special shows bring you a deeper dive into our guest’s wisdom Less editing, more laughter, Less time limits, more stories. Unlock those 192 extra minutes of wisdom for yourself for as little as $9 per month through the Patreon platform.
And when you become a patron, you also get access to wisdom essays, behind the scenes glimpses and access to special patron-only wisdom gatherings. Head over to patreon. Go. Unlock your 192 extra minutes of wisdom.
0:10:43 – Skip
Valerie, that brings us to the pivotal moment in the show where I’m going to ask you the fundamental question that I’ve asked about 130 guests before you. Valerie Hart, what’s the main thing you’ve learned in your lifetime so far?
0:10:58 – Valerie Hart
Well Skip, the main thing I’ve learned in my lifetime so far is to trust my intuition and be open.
0:11:08 – Skip
Trust my intuition and be open. Awesome! Would you take us through both of those parts in whatever order you want? I kind of feel like there’s a two-part lesson here. Take us through it, please.
0:11:24 – Valerie Hart
Yes, definitely so. Trusting my intuition has been a huge part of my evolution and who I am, and even though we it’s always been there, oftentimes we don’t listen to it or we don’t trust it, it’s always been there, nudging us and helping us along the way, and the biggest thing I’ve learned is just to stop and pause and listen, and just listen to those little nudges, or those big nudges, to help guide me through this world.
0:11:54 – Skip
For a listener who’s not spent much time thinking about intuition. How would we define it or how would we characterize our intuition?
0:12:02 – Valerie Hart
So, even though some of us don’t think we have intuition, we all have it, and it’s been called lots of different things. You can think of it as that instinct or that gut feeling that you often have, or this inner knowing, or maybe you are faced with a decision or something’s happening in your life and you just have this knowing of what you should do.
And you can’t really explain why or where it came from. It’s just this knowing, and oftentimes it’s there, we just don’t always notice it. It’s just this knowing, and oftentimes it’s there, we just don’t always notice it. It’s always here, guiding us.
0:12:31 – Skip
You know, thanks to you and Kate, I’m much more well versed in this area and I’ve learned about my own intuition. And one of the things I wanted to add to what you said was you know, inner knowing, inner voice, knowing inner voice. You know a problem solving a thought. That’s from our intelligence, from our prefrontal cortex, retrieving a fact or solving something intellectually, logically, it comes from up, here, down, but that intuition for me comes up, that knowing starts deep in my guts, if you will, and it rises up.
0:13:08 – Valerie Hart
That’s a really great way to explain it for sure, because our, our brains, our minds and our heads are taking all this, the sensory input from around us at all the time. So that’s where all the sensory inputs coming in. Yes, but that knowing I love that, or knowing, yeah, I feel it in my gut, I feel it in my heart space, yeah, it’s definitely a different place in my body, for sure, even though our intuition is there, guiding us all the time, oftentimes we don’t listen.
When you do follow through and trust what you’re feeling and knowing what that feels like, and then the more you do that, the more you trust it and you’re in alignment with what your core values are, that core being of you wants to have in this world. And when you have that alignment, everything just feels better, you feel at peace with what you’re doing, it feels.
0:13:58 – Skip
It feels really really good, Really right.
And then the the “be open.” Let’s talk about the second part of your, your main thing.
0:14:08 – Valerie Hart
We’re always trying to plan for our lives, right, and we have these fears and worries of the unknown and trying to plan for the future and I have the same thing right. So my my mantra for a while now. I heard this on a podcast actually by Bella Lively. And she often says this phrase and I say it all the time now, that I want to be open to being surprised and delighted by possibilities I never could have imagined.
0:14:32 – Skip
I identify with that. As you know, with my guests on this show, I always want to be surprised by their main thing. I never, ever, know it in advance. It’s not rehearsed, because I like that element of surprise.
Valerie, give me one action step I can take tomorrow, or even this afternoon. What can I do to begin to practice that?
0:14:52 – Valerie Hart
Well, the first thing I would say is to start noticing.
0:14:57 – Skip
Okay.
0:14:58 – Valerie Hart
When you’re moving throughout your day, making big decisions, small decisions, just notice what it feels like in your body. Okay, just notice if it feels good. If it feels bad, it feels kind of icky and sometimes you’ll get that full body: “Yes, I want to do this thing,” or this full body like, “Oh no, I don’t think I should do this thing.”
Just to start noticing. The more you notice, you’ll be able to trust it more and listen to it more. Yeah, If that makes sense.
0:15:30 – Skip
It does. I feel tightness in my gut and my diaphragm and in my jaws, that’s … those are signals to me that my body’s telling me … my intuition’s giving me kind of a no signal or a re-examine: caution, be careful here.
0:15:50 – Valerie Hart
Yeah, absolutely, and that’s the thing you want to notice, like what does it feel like in your body when maybe you’re not in alignment and not following your intuition. And then also noticing when it does feel good and how that feels in your body. That’s really the first step.
0:16:07 – Skip
Valerie, I love your main thing, and I was wondering if you could share a recent personal example where you had to really lean on that?
0:16:14 – Valerie Hart
It’s probably been maybe a little over a year ago. I had went to this local choir concert, a community choir concert, and it was totally random that I even ended up there. I’m not even sure how I heard about it or why I went. I went by myself, and I watched these people in my community sing. And it just was this amazing feeling for me.
Growing up, I was never in any sort of choir my entire life. My sister was always in choir. She was the family singer, and I just was …. I had this belief that I was not a singer and that was not something I could do. But for some reason that choir really spoke to me.
And then over the next couple of months it kept coming to my awareness, right? It kept showing up in my life in different ways … and people mentioning it. And then all of a sudden, the registration came up for the next time they were holding it. And I just felt this overwhelming, like full body, yes. Like: Valerie, you need to do this.
But I will say, my mind was not having it. My mind was terrified and scared and was like, Valerie, you can’t be in a choir. You’re not a singer. You can’t do these things. I had all these negative thoughts that came from my mind, but my body was like, “Do this Valerie. You need to do this.”
And so I sat with it. I remember sitting at the registration page thinking, should I do this? And I finally just felt into it. I’m like I’m doing this, I’m going to be open, I’m going to try something new.
And I will tell you, I’m in my third season now of the choir … just started a couple of weeks ago. And it’s been the most amazing experience that I’ve had in a long time. I’ve had this amazing community of people that I’m with that are also open to all abilities. And it’s really allowed me to find my voice and express it in a new way, in a new creative way, and it’s been a game changer for me.
0:18:07 – Skip
Great story, wow! I love that. It’s a perfect illustration of trust your intuition and be open to something new. Awesome, awesome.
Also, something new coming up in August is the event that you and I are going to be collaborating on with Kate and others. We will be part of the Wild Edge Retreat, coming up August 7th through 10th of this year. And it’s taking place near Spruce Knob at the Spruce Knob Mountain Center.
Tell us a little bit about what you’re excited about, Valerie, and what listeners might be intrigued to participate in.
0:18:49 – Valerie Hart
Yes, absolutely. I’m super excited about this retreat. We’ve been wanting to do something like this for a while, and this type of retreat is a time to help cultivate resilience and push past any barriers or restrictions that you may have within your life.
And maybe gain some clarity on where you’re going to go in the future. We’re going to do lots of different activities and experiences, some more physical ones.
Whether that would be hiking or walking through the woods the whole weekend. We’re integrating different mindfulness practices and allowing time to reflect and to be in nature. We’re there to help support both your inner world and your outer physical world as well. We do have an amazing running coach coming that teaches about functional movement, how to move your body in a natural way and to move through the world. So we will have a coach guiding you. So, if you are new to it, that he will be there to help guide you through that experience.
0:19:49 – Skip
Yeah, and I think we’re going to be doing a caving experience as well.
0:19:54 – Valerie Hart
Yes, we are going to be going through the Sinks of Gandy, which is a cave that is close by there, and I first went through when I was a kid with my dad. So it’s a pretty fun experience.
0:20:05 – Skip
Very noteworthy and cool cave system. I’m going to be trading out my headphones for my headlamp. And I might also use my headlamp for an evening trail run which sounds at first glance … it seems scary Like oh, it’s dark, I’m going to fall, I’m going to trip over a log, but, um, I’m, keep, I’m, I’m, I’m being open to that and I’m going to give it a try, because there will be moonlight and coaches and headlamps and I think I think it’ll be just fine. I think it’ll be amazing. That’s what my intuition is telling me. Absolutely Amazing.
0:20:45 – Valerie Hart
This will be an experience to unplug fully from the stresses of your everyday life. And just to be with you and allow yourself time to reflect. And process your life and experience some new practices … breaking through some barriers. Learning some new skills, self-care, discovery.
0:20:58 – Skip
I will be doing some workshops on journaling and having quiet time to create that space for listening. Just a couple other notes about the retreat. I’ll put a link in the show notes where where folks can click to to go to register. But they’re going to go to your website and your event page. It’s on there. Just a prompt, a nudge, if you’re interested at all: this will fill up really fast. They always do, and this will. We’re limited to only be able to entertain 25 participants. There’s lodging available. There’s the beauty, the most beautiful nature available that we’ll be able to enjoy together … and guided experiences. It’s going to be magical.
0:21:49 – Valerie Hart
Yeah, it’s one of the most beautiful places that I’ve been. And I will say to one of the most amazing things that I love about retreats is that often we all show up as strangers but we leave as friends.
0:22:00 – Skip
Yes, Valerie. What are you going to be doing? What sessions are you going to be leading? What type of practices are you going to be guiding us through?
0:22:08 – Valerie Hart
Yeah, so when we’re out in the beautiful natural world, I’m going to be guiding some different grounding and sensory experiences. And then also doing some practices to help participants tap into that inner wisdom using the natural world around us. It’s really fun.
0:22:26 – Skip
I look forward to that. Can’t wait, can’t wait.
Folks, again, I encourage you, if you’re interested, to check out the Wild Edge Retreat. Drop me an email if you have any questions. We’ll have contact information for Valerie in the show notes as well.
Valerie, this has been such a blessing and such a joy today. Thank you so much for coming on the Main Thing Podcast, sharing your wisdom, talking about your life experience, great stories and our upcoming event. Thank you so much.
0:22:58 – Valerie Hart
Thank you so much, Skip, for having me. It’s been so much fun.
0:23:00 – Skip
So long for now.
0:23:02 – Announcer
That goes by incredibly fast, doesn’t it? Time flies when you’re hacking wisdom. Thank you for listening to this wisdom conversation. If you enjoyed this podcast and found the wisdom lesson valuable, then I encourage you to share it with a loved one or friend. Did you know? Podcast recommendations from one person to another remain the strongest form of podcast growth worldwide? It’s true, and we’d appreciate you helping spread the good word.
Let’s give a big, hearty thank you to the crew of the Main Thing Podcast. These are the folks who truly keep the wisdom pipeline flowing Audio engineer Bob Hotchkiss, strategy advisor Andy Malinowski, public relations and partnerships guru Rachel Bell, social media and digital marketing expert Chloe Lineberg, graphic designer Emma Malinowski. And, of course, our patrons, those generous folks who provide monthly funding, support to help underwrite our costs of production. I couldn’t do it without you, nor would I want to.
Your feedback matters a lot. If you have a question, a suggestion, maybe an idea or even a nomination of a future show guest, I’d love to hear from you. Email me at info at themainthingpodcast dot com.
Well, that’s a wrap for this show. I’m your host, skip Lineberg, signing off for now and inviting you to join us again next time for another special delivery of wisdom.
Transcribed by https://podium.page
