Life Intensely Tasted in Search of Meaning

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There are some people that make their
work just another thing they have to do,

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and there are those that make their
work something that they want to do.

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Welcome to Working on Purpose with your
host Elise Cortez. In our program,

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we provide guidance and inspiration from those
people who have found deeper meaning and

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personal connection to their work life.
It's beyond nine to five. It's Working

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on Purpose. Now Here is your
host, Elise Cortez. Welcome back to

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the Working on Purpose Show. Thanks
for tuning in again this week. I

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am your host, Elise Cortez,
joining you live from Dallas, Texas,

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which is home base for me.
If you've been tuning in for a while,

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you know this program is all about
helping people create more meaningful and purposeful

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lives and equipping leaders inside organizations to
cultivate meaning and purpose. Stilisits passion inspired

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contribution, innovation, and persevering performance. I talk with my guests to draw

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on their expertise and share my own
experience consultings speaking in developing workforces across the

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globe every week. In these conversations, I hope you walk away with something

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you can readily put to use,
and if I can do anything to help

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you in your personal or professional journey. Go to my website at a least

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Cortez dot com and use the contact
me feature to message me where it's open

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to dialogue and explore what's going on
for you and how I might be able

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to help. Whether you want to
join the distribution list to stay informed of

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these radio show topics. You want
to see about joining a catch fire online

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inspiration, accountability or mastermind communities to
nurture your own purpose or bring it out

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into the world. You want to
look into the purpose driven leadership program for

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yourself or your team, which are
offered on site or via webcast. You're

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interested in the Women on Purpose Thought
Leadership summat in Portland, Orient in September

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of twenty nineteen, or you'd like
me to speak for your company or conference

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at any rate. I'm glad we're
connected and thanks for listening. Now onto

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this week's program, Hang onto your
hat. This is going to be an

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amazing adventure today. Today with Us
is Sophie McLean, who has a commitment

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to participate in the creation of a
new culture within humankind and does with an

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irresistible passion, from speaking engagements to
leading one on one programs where she deconstructs

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the ego to leading online seminars encouraging
people to think consciously. Her hous ondepre

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is deliberate people from the constraints and
the illusion of the ego. She's publishing

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in May her first book, The
Elegance of Simplicity to jo into Today from

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France, Sophie, Welcome to Working
on Purpose. Hello, Hello, Alice.

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Hello, it is so wonderful to
have you, and I just so

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appreciate getting to reach across the globe
to have you and share you with my

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listeners who are also across the globe. I want to help our listeners understand

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that a big reason I was so
thrilled to have you come on the show

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is that your experience and the depth
of the voracious hunger of the human spirits

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who defined meaning in life is what
you really show for me. I mean,

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I don't know that I've ever come
across anybody, Sophie who has gone

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to the depths to look for meaning
like you have and has had the adventures

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that you have along the way.
So I want to share that with our

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listeners. Are you ready? Yeah? I am, I'm delighted. Okay,

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okay, I think it would be
great. I wanted to start if

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I could by there's a do you
have your book in front of you?

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I wanted to see if we could
read from page page three of that initial

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prayer. Do you have in front
of you? I do not, I

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do not, Well, I do. I will get it just a moment.

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I want to meet it for us. I think it is just perfectly

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encapsulates what you're up to. So
here's what it says, listeners, I

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wish to make a deal with you. I'll tell you all, I'll bear

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it all. I will be the
provocateur. I'll take you out of your

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comfort zone. I'll guide you beyond
the limits of your thinking. I will

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even give you answers you understand.
In return, I ask only one thing,

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throw off the unbearable weight of the
habitual, for the pursuit of the

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extraordinary, for the sake of humankind. Sophie. That is such a great

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poem to start off with. It's
so you and what you're up to.

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Did you come in a little bit? Could you come in a little bit

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on that? I have been through
despair, joy, happiness, sadness,

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and I think what is important it
is never to give up, and I

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have this total conviction that it is
possible to create space for all of us

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on the planet where things work.
Wait, it really works for everybody.

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So I never stop. I educate
people, I do whatever I can so

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that people have the access to actually
create this enjoy the magnificence of life.

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That is what feeds me and drives
me and what I breathe every day.

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It's always there and you've take to
get to that place in life. So,

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fiece, what you have gone through
and your life so far is extraordinary,

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and you've really been on a quest
to escape, as you say,

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the agreeable routine, to find meaning
in life and move from despair to joy,

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from fear to love, as you've
been saying. And you're somebody sophy

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who's experienced rape and in ability to
have children and widow just to start just

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with some of those things. So
from one of the events that really kicked

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you into despair was losing your beloved
husband on your honeymoon when you were just

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twenty eight years old. Can you
say a little bit about that for us?

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What was that like? Well,
it was a last straw, as

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you said, I had a difficult
years A few years before that's about ten

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or fifteen years that were difficult.
And then the last straw was at this

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of my husband on honeymoon, and
there I can say that I really hit

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despair. It's so you know,
the space where suddenly you have nothing to

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look ahead. It's like it's like
dark, It's there is nothing, nothing

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you ever think will ever ever bring
you joy ever again, and you have

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to cope with that. And that's
how it was. And to you know,

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it was bad enough to lose him, and but on top of that,

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I made myself suffer even more by
deciding that I was obviously somebody that

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was doomed somehow, because I never
heard of anybody having so many tragedies in

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such sort of time. So that's
how it was, just dark, dark

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despair. You know. I so
appreciate you bringing us into that space,

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Sophie. I was setting it thinking
as you were as you were talking,

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I don't know that I have experienced
that kind of despair in my life.

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I and so for you to come
back from that depth to where you are

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today is to me a testament of
the human spirit. Yeah. It's really

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resilience, isn't it. I don't
know, you know at least. I

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really don't know what drove me,
but all I knew is that I couldn't

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commit suicide because I wasn't willing to
put that weight on the people I loved

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around me and my family. There
was absolutely that was not an option for

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me, and I had this kind
of black beast eating my inside. You

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know, that's quite despair felt like
for me. So I just took one

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step after the next, just breathing. And I had a lot of support

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for my family. My father called
me every day asking me if I was

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awake and had gotten out of bed, and every day I said yes,

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and every day he said, I'm
proud of you. You know, this

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kind of support is unvaluable. I
appreciate that it's not at all on the

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same level. But when I got
divorced in twenty sixteen, my dear belaveda

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bass who was a friend who became
a friend of mine years and years and

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years ago, called me every single
weekend to make sure I was okay,

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And it was priceless for me.
And you know, at list there is

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something when you say I didn't know
what you knew. But there is one

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thing I learned is if you haven't
lost somebody you love, but you have

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gotten divorce. The pain you will
experience for your divorce is at the same

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level that it's the same depths and
the one I experienced losing my husband for

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you, you see, you can't
compare loss and tragedy and dramas saying,

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oh, yours is bigger than mine, because you experience a hundred percent what's

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this happening to you? Do you
see what I mean? I do,

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Yes, I do. And I
have a sense that the way that you've

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gone about your life, the things
that have happened to you in your life,

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and the way that you have chosen
to respond and react to them and

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learn from them, and then the
quest of meaning that you've been on and

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all the adventures though, seems to
me have really created something in you.

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You are able force, Sophie,
And it's just it's incredible to behold and

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be around and anyway, I just
I revere that and I respect it,

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and I I and I know that
listeners are going to want to hear just

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some of the things that you went
that you did in that thirst for for

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for meanings. So I wanted to
share a few of them. If can

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we can, we can we jump
into a couple of course, of course.

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Okay, Well one of the things
that you did, so your husband

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passed in nineteen eighty eight and he
must have had some kind of a guess

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Kennington Flying School and Airport, and
after he passed, you managed that that

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business and then you went you you
managed the sales process. This is you're

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you're twenty eight years old, is
I think? Yeah, So tell us

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a little bit about what that was
like, you know, having that thrown

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into your lap. Well, the
city is that I wanted to honor him,

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and he had used me as a
sounding board for his business, and

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so I knew what he wanted to
do. I never worked in business before,

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but I knew what he wanted to
do because he shared a lot with

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me, right and when he died, I found myself with four step children

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responsible for his legacy. So I, you know, I just put one

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foot in front of the other.
Again. The whole team that was around

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me, the directors of the Kidlington
Airport way extraordinary. And I dealt with

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lawyers and bankers that was extremely,
extremely frightening for me. I was quite

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a shy kind of person and I
didn't have much confidence, but I did

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it because it wasn't for me.
It was for the children. Do you

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see. That's what I think gives
a lot of strength is when you're my

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attention wasn't on me, So that's
what kept me going. I completely understand

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that, Sophie. Right, when
we're focused in service of others and not

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on ourselves, we can sumone much
more courage and strength. I really do

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understand that. Yes, and you
talk about that in your book, by

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the way, as I heard,
I read that, and I saw how

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beautiful you bring that to light.
And if I may also say, I

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just so appreciate we're having this conversation
in English. You speak English extremely well.

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Obviously your first language is French,
and your accent is stunning. So

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I just want to I just want
to say thank you for joining this conversation

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and yet another one of the languages
that you speak. Thank you. You're

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welcome, all right. So now
I want to get into some of these

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amazing adventures that when I when I
read you through your your book, Sophie,

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it's really it's the series of events
and adventures that most of us would

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only know by watching like a Hollywood
movie or reading the novels and this was

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your life. This It sounds like
a fantasy land, but this is the

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real deal for you. And so
one of the things that you talk about

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in your book and your experiences is
that you you got trained to fly helicopters

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and got a license, and that
would have been also about when you were

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twenty eight twenty nine. Yes,
that's right, that's right, and that's

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what that was because I you know, it sounds so great, right,

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but in fact, I was feeling
dead, you know, like no,

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no, nothing to look forward to. So I think flying helicopters for me

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was okay, I'm going to scare
myself into feeling alive. And there was

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this ex navy pilot. It was
in Oxford in England, and they took

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me on. They were very sweet
and we did all sorts of crazy things

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and with a helicopter, like chasing
sheets and landing on roofs, and it

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made me feel alive. I needed
a challenge, you know, well,

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I gotta believe that's a challenge.
Chasing sheep and landing on that's just so

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great, Sophie. I've got the
whole picture of your running after which one

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which sheep should I go after?
It's wonderful. Well, and then too

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you talk about it, and this
is just hard for a lot of us

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to fathom. I just listeners imagine
this. And so at one point,

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Sophie, you decided to escape,
escape what you call the agreeable routine.

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And I really understand what you mean
by that, by the way, because

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I felt in the grasp and the
throes of that too when I was in

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the comfort of you know, when
I was married, et cetera, et

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cetera. I had nothing to do
with my ex husband, but that's just

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where I was. But that agreeable
routine, I know exactly what you mean.

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And what you did was you sold
your apartment, you gave away your

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furniture, you gave away your designer
clothes, and you went to discover the

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world and always just a backpack and
a passport. So would you share a

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little something about it that part of
your life. Yeah, yeah, it

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was like an existential moment. It
was about four years after my husband died,

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and I was looking by then fine. You know, if you had

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seen me, and people saw me, and I had put on a bit

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of weight back and I was I
looked like if I was functioning, but

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I was still dead. Inside,
and I had an existential moment in front

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of a mirror. Can still remember
it, where I looked at myself and

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I said, okay, you have
to do something. It can't be a

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vegetable for the rest of your life. And I was very, very scared

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that the people I loved will die. You know, you get a bit

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traumatized and you think everybody you love
is going to die. So I thought

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that going backpacking to far away countries
would oblige me not to call them every

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hour to see if they were still
breathing, you see. So I kind

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of cornered myself into okay, move, just move and go and take risk,

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and that's that you do something.
So that's what I did, and

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I started with going down the Grand
Canyon for fifteen days, which was quite

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fun. Then I moved on to
Tahiti and then I met some people on

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a sailboat and they said they needed
someone to help them bring a boat from

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New Zealand to the Carabean. So
I said, oh, great, I'm

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coming and they said you know how
to sell. I said no, no,

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but I know how to navigate,
which wasn't quite true because I always

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got closed as a pilot but you
know, they made them in New Zealand

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and started crossing the South Pacifices was
quite an adventure by itself. We got

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shipwrecked on Easter Island and it was
fun. I mean, it wasn't fun

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to be shipwrecked, but it turned
out to be good. And isn't it

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wasn't on Eastern Island where you met
the film crew, Is that right?

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That's right. Five days after we
made it to Easter Island, we just

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broke everything on the boat, but
we made it. And then you know,

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on Easter Island there is a runway
where the Space Shuttle landed. It

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cannot land on Kennedy, so there
is this enormous runway and then five days

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later this big plane lands and two
hundred hanky Americans and Australian come out and

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they were making a movie. So
I just got a job with them because

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I got stranded on the island for
six months, so I learned about the

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film industry. It was fun.
Oh my gosh. We have to talk

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a little bit more about that,
but let's grab our first break. I'm

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Elise Cortez. We've been on the
air with Sophie McLean, who has an

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irresistible passion and commitment to participate in
the creation of a new culture within humankind,

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and does so with an irresistible passion. As we say, we've been

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talking a little bit about some of
her early lives and some of the depths

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in despair and how she worked her
way out of that. Stay with us.

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We'll be right back from more.
Alice Cortez is a speaker and engagement

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and development catalyst. She designs and
delivers professional development, leadership and engagement workshops

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and can bring her expertise to your
organization. She will help ignite meaningful development

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within your workforce that will increase employee
engagement, performance and retention. To learn

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more or to invite Elise to speak
to your organization, please visit her at

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www dot Elise Cortez dot com.
She would welcome the opportunity to help get

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your employees working on purpose. This
is working on Purpose with Elise Cortez.

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To reach our program today, send
an email to Elise ali Se at Elise

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00:17:29.240 --> 00:17:36.240
Cortez dot com. Now back to
working on Purpose. Thanks for staying with

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this and welcome back to working on
Purpose. If you're just joining us,

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My guest is Sophie McLean, who
has a commitment to participate in the creation

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of a new culture within humankind and
does so with an irresistible passion. From

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speaking engagements to leading one on one
programs where she deconstructs the ego, to

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leading online seminars encouraging people to think
consciously. Her has ondatra is to liberate

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people from the constraints in the illusion
of the ego. She's publishing in May

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her first book, The Elegance of
Simplicity. I'm your host at last,

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Cortez. Okay, So, Sophie, a couple of things before I have

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you go back and talk about your
filming and Eastern Island experience. When I

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go out and speak to audiences,
a lot of times I'll open with and

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ask the audiences to consider what will
you do with your one precious life?

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And when you think about the some
contents and what's in that life, however

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long or short it may be,
I think a lot of people would scratch

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their head and go, I don't
I don't know that I really did everything

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I wanted to do in my life. And so when I read your book

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and speaking with you, you have
lived what I considered to be a pretty

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extraordinary, adventurous life and you've really
worked at it. And so here you

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are shipwrecked in Easter Island. You
run into this film crew and somehow,

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I don't know how you managed it, you managed to get a job with

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the film crew and you worked there. So what was that like you made

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a movie or what we were in
the movie? What was what was happening

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for you? What was your role? I was the assistant to the behind

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the scene that so they were making
a documentary about the making of the movie,

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and I became his assistant. And
you know, a film crew is

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really fun because it's like a microcosm
of the world. So you have everything

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that you can find in the world, but on a very small scale.

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So all the interaction between human beings
and the work and the play and going

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out at night and sometimes being bored
because you have to wait hours for the

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light and stuff like that. I
learned a lot about this industry. And

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also for me, I was young. I had just selled across as a

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specific and I was starting to feel
alive again. So I used to do

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you know, we used to party
at night in an old hanger because there

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is not much on Easter island and
I could dance again, which I thought

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I was never able to do again. So it was being free, cut

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off from everything, no for,
no email, nothing, and it was

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a breath of fresh air. Mmmm. I literally when you described as experience,

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Sophie, I feel like I'm watching
you being resuscitated back to life.

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That's what it seems like you're saying
as you as you narrate your experience.

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It is, And you know what's
loveless, it's a moment as surrendered.

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I stopped fighting the despair, I
stopped fighting wanting to to do something.

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I just backed it back back and
let life take me where it wanted to

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take me. And that's where I
started to heal. That's extraordinary. And

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somewhere in there, I want to
know, how did you end up working

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as an interior designer with a portfolio
of private clients. You have it as

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diverse as the Sultan of Brunet,
the royal family of Abu Dhabi. How

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did that happen? That was before
I left you see, okay, But

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after I saw the airport, then
I went back to study. I got

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a diploma and designer. I got
to work and that's where I looked normal,

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but I was still dead inside,
so I knew I had to do

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something drastic. Okay, now I
think this was where it gets kind of

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interesting. So somewhere you found your
way into a personal transformation seminar, somewhere

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in this despair piece. And I'm
not exactly sure on the timing, and

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we'll get to that, but first
I want to know, Yeah, how

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old were you, Where was it
in a story, and what was it

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about that experience of the seminar that
so seized you, so strutted you down

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the path of wanting to help other
people eradicate suffering. So well, after

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East Island, I had met this
man on Easter Island and I had an

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adventure with him, and he lived
in Los Angeles, and I moved on

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to Los Angeles. I just followed
the way life was taking me. And

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in Los Angeles I met an very
old friend of mine that had just done

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this transformational seminar and she said to
me she wanted to meet to do it.

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And I got a bit nervous.
You know, in France, I

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think we less open minded than in
the States, and thought, oh good

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god, she must been a dangerous
place. So I went to rescue her.

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Frankly, that's why I did it. That's so great. But on

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this three I remember, I stood
on my chair and you know, like

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those pictures of people that raised their
arm to sand the sky for with gratefulness,

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this is how I felt, because
what I got in that seminar was

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that I could be with a pain
of losing my husband, you can actually

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stand. The pain was unsufferable,
was a suffering that I had brought on

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myself by deciding that I was doomed, and that was my making. I

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couldn't do anything about my husband's death, but I could do something about that

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story I made up that I was
born with a bad luck star hovering over

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my head, and that was enough
to free me be able to accept the

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pain, let go of the suffering, and have a new future in front

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of me. And you know,
the moment I got that, but the

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moment I said, Okay, this
is too good, I've got to give

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it away, there was not even
a thought it was just too good to

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keep for myself. There is no
way I'm going to keep that for myself.

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So I tried myself for four years
to leave the seminars and moved to

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the state and lead for fifteen years, so a couple of things, if

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you can go back to that.
So it's so powerful, that incredible transformation

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that you experienced, and can you
You said it, but I guess I

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want a little bit more depth there, just to really understand the pfundity of

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just what you experienced. So to
walk into the seminars still in a place

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where you felt like you were doomed
in life, to being free of that,

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it's got to be literally not just
night and day. It's got to

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be life and death. It is. It is exactly that I was.

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I was at one moment, I
was in a very dark place where there

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was no future, and the next
moment there was light. I had a

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light future. It's what's called transformation, right, You moved from one space

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to the next, and it's so
simple. I saw the simplicity of it.

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That was It is exquisite. And
also the fact that I had made

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that decision. The fact that my
husband was dead did not mean that I

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was doomed, didn't mean that I
had bad look, didn't mean I did

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something wrong, didn't mean it didn't
love me. It just mean it was

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dead. Everything else was a story
I made up And at that moment I

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got responsible for my entire life.
I knew then that I was a creator

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of my experience in life, whatever
circumstances, and I moved from the realm

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of victim to the realm of being
responsible. That's incredibly empowering that I do

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stand very much in the space of
inspiration and empowerment and I I've got my

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arms wrapped wide around that one,
Sophie. So thank you for giving us

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access to really what it was for
you. Because I wanted our listeners to

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be able to stand in that space
with you and glimpse that, at least

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for themselves as there and whatever they're
wrestling with in life right now. I

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wanted them to be able to glimpse
that, and you did that beautifully.

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Thank you. So I also want
a presence for our listeners and help them

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understand just what you did. So, you know, it sounds to me

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like you're one of those kind of
people who, once you decide something,

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there's no middle ground for you.
You're either in or you are out right,

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it seems like that's who you are. Okay, I'm all I'm all

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out. I'd like to do things, well, yes I do. And

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also you must remember I have no
children, no husband by then, right,

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so it's you know, some other
people have more responsibility. I could

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do that, I could dive in. Okay, that does help, thank

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you, Sophie. So, so
one of the things you talk about in

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your book is you you've conducted seminars
ranging from two hundred to two thousand participants,

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which is okay, that's already amazing, and you've trained over seventy thousand

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people. Amazing impact in life when
you were when you're working for that organization,

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you were responsible for the recruitment and
training of international leaders, and you

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were the spokesperson for the company that
you worked. You know, and you

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and you've done work and led lad
seminars in sixty different countries. That is

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phenomenal. Sophie forty eight. Forty
eight, okay, forty eight. So

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so what I know too, because
I work in this space of transformation too,

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and I mean maybe in a different
way, but I also know that

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working in that space does something to
us. And so can you help us

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understand what did those years those I
think it was twelve years in that personal

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transformation space do for you and providing
it for others? So I got so

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when I started training and leading,
right, So then I had a new

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meaning for my life. Right,
so my life was a bad then giving

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freedom to other people, liberation from
the suffering. So I now had a

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purpose. So that's the first thing, is that I could get up in

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the morning excited. I never I
didn't ask myself anymore, good, God,

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do I have to wait fifty years
before I die? You know?

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It's just every morning I got up, I had something meaningful to do for

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myself. And then this to be
you know I used to be before I

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did this. Seminars thought, whoever
designed human being got it well, because

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we hurt each other, we lie
to each other, we're bad with each

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other, we don't know how to
communicate even the people we love. We

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heard the feelings. I mean,
I really was convinced that really the design

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of human was flawed. And after
talking to seventy thousand people and training them

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and spending all the time with them, but really got the experience at the

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deepest place in myself that human being
are magnificent. It's just that there is

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this thing that we could be ego
that if it's not distinguished, is a

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problem. But I think the very
very nature of human being is exquisite.

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There is no bad people. There
is only people that do bad things.

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So from one moment I thought human
being a flawed the next moment I saw

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them as magnificent and doing sometimes stupid
and bad things. You can imagine my

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experience of being alive just totally transformed. I wasn't scared anymore, I could

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relate to people. I had access
to an enormous amount of love and compassion.

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Wow, that is I can't talk
about a wholly different lens on the

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world. And I'm Sophie. That
is that's extraordinary. I don't know that

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I understood that you had that view
of humanity before that the humans were flawed.

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Becoming magnificent that is quite a transformation
too. And again thinking about what

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you're doing today to now serve other
people across the world. So you're the

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director of access to Awareness. I
think that's one of the ways that you

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call yourself and you specialize in the
group training, mediation and personal coaching of

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leaders. Would you say a little
bit about the work that you're up to

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today now that you've had that in
your sales, What are you doing today?

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Yes? I have so I cannot
stop right I cannot stop teaching awareness,

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bringing awareness, talking about awareness.
I really do seeing awareness is the

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ultimate power. Just examining what we
think, what we do, and and

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putting in question being skipped article about
everything that we take for granted. Right,

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So I have starting So I want
to spread this love for a wheness.

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So I want to talk lead conferences, really support people in knowing that

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there is a way which is simple, if not easy, I do agree

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it's not easy, but it's simple
to actually create the life you dream of

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and you want. And then because
it's a question of time, I want

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to talk to work with they accomplish
people. Do you know those people at

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lasts that have everything like they have
succeeded in accomplishing what they wanted to accomplish.

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They have the business, a family, you know, they get the

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more or less. Nobody has a
perfect life, right, but they have

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a lot of power, sometimes a
lot of money. I want those people

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to transform so they can take on
the world. So that's also one of

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my big commitments to get to the
politicians and to the people that have a

409
00:31:10.519 --> 00:31:12.640
lot of power. Oh my gosh, Sophie, that is so great.

410
00:31:12.680 --> 00:31:18.400
And you know again talk about preparation. Right, you are a person who

411
00:31:18.440 --> 00:31:22.440
can do that work based on what
you've gone through and what you've done and

412
00:31:22.440 --> 00:31:26.680
how you've worked on yourself. And
I think, I'm so glad you told

413
00:31:26.680 --> 00:31:29.720
me that because I didn't realize that's
what you're up to. That is extraordinary.

414
00:31:29.759 --> 00:31:34.720
I'm right behind you, Sophie Go. You know the thing that it's

415
00:31:34.759 --> 00:31:40.000
amazing to be grateful for what happened
to me in my life and the tragedy

416
00:31:40.039 --> 00:31:44.119
and the difficulties. But I'm extremely
grateful for it because I kind of give

417
00:31:44.160 --> 00:31:48.559
away work I didn't experience, and
as you said, I experienced a lot.

418
00:31:48.079 --> 00:31:52.799
So it makes me useful because there
is not many things I don't know

419
00:31:52.319 --> 00:31:56.720
what it feels like to have gone
through it, you see. So I'm

420
00:31:56.839 --> 00:32:01.400
feel with the gratefulness and I love
all so the online seminar that I do

421
00:32:01.519 --> 00:32:08.400
with everybody right that wants to,
because I take people away from their routine

422
00:32:08.440 --> 00:32:13.720
and their busy life for one hour, and for that hour, we learned

423
00:32:13.799 --> 00:32:16.720
to sink consciously. And it's exactly
like the conversation I'm having with you.

424
00:32:17.319 --> 00:32:23.680
It's just on any topic being love, sex, anxiety, fear, money,

425
00:32:23.839 --> 00:32:30.319
anything, but we talk and learn
to look at different views and it's

426
00:32:30.519 --> 00:32:35.119
very powerful. I loved reading those
I do I can tell, I can

427
00:32:35.200 --> 00:32:37.920
tell how wonderful. Okay, hold, that's up, Sophie. Our last

428
00:32:37.920 --> 00:32:40.839
break really quick. I'm a last
quarte as your host. We learn the

429
00:32:40.880 --> 00:32:45.440
air of Sophie McLean, who has
an irresistible passion and commitment to participate in

430
00:32:45.480 --> 00:32:47.519
the creation of a new culture within
human kind. I think you've been hearing

431
00:32:47.559 --> 00:32:51.559
that. After the break, we're
going to talk about some of the adventures

432
00:32:51.559 --> 00:32:53.759
she's been having over the last seven
years. Their astounding stay with us.

433
00:32:53.799 --> 00:33:19.519
We'll be right back. Elise Cortez
is a speaker and engagement and development catalyst.

434
00:33:19.720 --> 00:33:24.039
She designs and delivers professional development,
leadership and engagement workshops and can bring

435
00:33:24.039 --> 00:33:30.160
her expertise to your organization. She
will help ignite meaningful development within your workforce

436
00:33:30.279 --> 00:33:34.960
that will increase employee engagement, performance
and retention. To learn more or to

437
00:33:35.039 --> 00:33:39.039
invite Elise to speak to your organization, please visit her at www dot Elise

438
00:33:39.160 --> 00:33:45.240
Cortez dot com. She would welcome
the opportunity to help get your employees working

439
00:33:45.359 --> 00:33:55.160
on purpose. This is working on
purpose with Elise Cortez to reach our program

440
00:33:55.200 --> 00:34:01.799
today send an email to Elise ali
se at Elise Cortez dot com. Now

441
00:34:02.279 --> 00:34:07.400
back to Working on Purpose. Thanks
for staying with us, and welcome back

442
00:34:07.440 --> 00:34:10.760
to Working on Purpose if you're just
tuning in. My guest is Sophie McLean,

443
00:34:12.000 --> 00:34:15.000
who has a commitment to participate in
the creation of a new culture within

444
00:34:15.079 --> 00:34:19.599
humankind and does so with an irresistible
passion. From speaking engagements to leading one

445
00:34:19.599 --> 00:34:22.960
on one programs where she deconstructs the
ego, to leading online seminars encouraging people

446
00:34:23.000 --> 00:34:27.960
to think consciously. Her house on
Tetra is to liberate people from the constraints

447
00:34:27.960 --> 00:34:30.320
and the illusion of the ego.
She's publishing in May her first book,

448
00:34:30.320 --> 00:34:36.320
called The Elegance of Simplicity. I'm
your host, Elise Cortez, So Sophie,

449
00:34:36.320 --> 00:34:37.880
in this last segment here, I
really want to bring to life for

450
00:34:38.199 --> 00:34:42.880
our listeners some of the adventures,
not just some of the adventures you've had

451
00:34:42.880 --> 00:34:45.159
in the left seven years. But
before I do that, since I am

452
00:34:45.159 --> 00:34:50.719
a person who really does investigate into
a lot of reading and I believe very

453
00:34:50.760 --> 00:34:53.239
strong in education, I just want
to hear a little bit about your study

454
00:34:53.280 --> 00:34:59.000
of two degrees in philosophy and you
say that you are fueled by an intense

455
00:34:59.039 --> 00:35:05.360
desire to know the w sisdom of
the stages. How have those experiences contributed

456
00:35:05.400 --> 00:35:09.920
to your ongoing transformation? Well,
you know about the routine we were talking

457
00:35:09.960 --> 00:35:15.119
about earlier on the problem in life, right, if we don't know that

458
00:35:15.159 --> 00:35:19.320
we either expand or we contract,
then we stuck in the routine. So

459
00:35:19.519 --> 00:35:22.679
I always want to expand. And
that was an area of life that I

460
00:35:22.800 --> 00:35:30.960
knew I didn't have any education in, I mean other the one that we

461
00:35:30.079 --> 00:35:35.800
all have, right, So I
really wanted to go and start with Homer

462
00:35:36.519 --> 00:35:40.599
and go all the way to today
and just know what all the philosophers had

463
00:35:40.719 --> 00:35:45.639
said about all the questions that fascinated
me. So I went back to school.

464
00:35:45.519 --> 00:35:49.840
I went back to school. It
was it was interesting because I ended

465
00:35:49.920 --> 00:35:54.320
up a little bit running the new
university in France. But it was fun.

466
00:35:55.159 --> 00:35:59.920
Of course you did, of course
you did. I have this vision

467
00:36:00.039 --> 00:36:02.480
of you walking through the world.
So if you this this little fireball that

468
00:36:02.559 --> 00:36:07.199
everywhere you go it just fires off
something and you know it just but you

469
00:36:07.199 --> 00:36:09.599
could see it like you know,
like radar on a map moving about the

470
00:36:09.639 --> 00:36:13.159
world. That's what you look like
when I when I think about you,

471
00:36:13.880 --> 00:36:16.639
well, at least people find me
exhausting as well. I really have to

472
00:36:16.679 --> 00:36:22.199
tell the truth here, right.
They might a bit tiring as well because

473
00:36:22.480 --> 00:36:27.599
I can't stop trading. So I
even trained the teachers at the university,

474
00:36:27.679 --> 00:36:34.840
which was not too welcome. But
I'm learning. I understand where you're.

475
00:36:34.960 --> 00:36:37.079
As one of my girlfriends likes to
say, you're you're a stiff drink.

476
00:36:37.199 --> 00:36:45.039
You're You're not for the faint of
heart for sure, exactly. Oh okay,

477
00:36:45.079 --> 00:36:47.239
so let's talk about some of these
amazing adventures. Okay, I was.

478
00:36:47.360 --> 00:36:50.920
I would have loved to get in
your back pocket on any of these,

479
00:36:51.000 --> 00:36:54.039
but one of them starting with your
Hinduism and studies with a guru and

480
00:36:54.360 --> 00:36:59.199
come mel I think it is India, and then you Buddhism with the Dali

481
00:36:59.280 --> 00:37:01.920
Lama. Oh my gosh, I
would I would? I want to do

482
00:37:01.960 --> 00:37:05.119
that kind of work. Tell us
a little about what that was like.

483
00:37:06.280 --> 00:37:09.079
So I am a yes to life? Right. So actually life brings me

484
00:37:09.239 --> 00:37:13.519
this opportunity and as much as I
can, I see yes. Right.

485
00:37:13.559 --> 00:37:21.719
So I first met Saima Lakshmi Devi
in the States actively and I just thought,

486
00:37:21.760 --> 00:37:25.079
okay, I don't know about Hinduism, so I followed her for a

487
00:37:25.159 --> 00:37:30.480
year. I went to the combatment. I think there was seventy million Hindus

488
00:37:30.480 --> 00:37:37.079
in that gathering at the heel of
the at the feet of the Himalayas,

489
00:37:37.119 --> 00:37:44.639
and I learned about poverty and again
finding the magnificence of human being. You

490
00:37:44.679 --> 00:37:49.159
know, I cooked the whole night
because there you have to feed all the

491
00:37:49.199 --> 00:37:52.239
poor. This is you know.
I was in a kind of I was

492
00:37:52.320 --> 00:37:55.079
in a tent, but it was
a kind of ashrab and anybody that came

493
00:37:55.119 --> 00:37:59.639
to the tent we had to feed. So we spent our entire night cooking

494
00:37:59.719 --> 00:38:05.440
and feeding people on during the day, and I think I learned humidity.

495
00:38:05.480 --> 00:38:09.800
I learned not to be frightened of
sick people, poor people. I didn't

496
00:38:09.840 --> 00:38:15.599
speak the language, but we had
a communication on the less and frankly,

497
00:38:15.639 --> 00:38:19.719
after two months I could have stayed
there much longer. It's you know,

498
00:38:19.800 --> 00:38:23.039
when this space gets totally perfect and
you're in the harmony with everything. It

499
00:38:23.119 --> 00:38:29.119
was really great. And I promised
myself that I wouldn't go in the Ganji

500
00:38:29.239 --> 00:38:32.559
River because I thought it was polluted. Within twenty minutes I was in it.

501
00:38:34.920 --> 00:38:37.079
Of course, it was so hot. It was so hot, there

502
00:38:37.159 --> 00:38:39.599
was no way. I thought,
well, but look, I'm doing it.

503
00:38:42.840 --> 00:38:45.320
Well, I admire so much.
I happened to India. I spent

504
00:38:45.360 --> 00:38:49.840
three weeks in India. I didn't
do necessarily a spiritual quests there, but

505
00:38:49.920 --> 00:38:52.920
and also to Malaysia. But they
gave me just just a little bit of

506
00:38:52.920 --> 00:38:55.599
a touch of what you're talking about. Now. You made me want so

507
00:38:55.679 --> 00:39:00.719
much more. So I will also
continue that quest too. But now if

508
00:39:00.760 --> 00:39:05.159
we go on the other side,
when maybe another other end of the energy

509
00:39:05.199 --> 00:39:08.559
spectrum, maybe as you you studied
tango in your search for feminine and the

510
00:39:08.639 --> 00:39:13.960
masculine, which is I think it's
such a beautiful, exotic dance. Having

511
00:39:14.000 --> 00:39:17.639
lived in Brazil and bent to Argentina, I've seen it. It's magnificent.

512
00:39:17.760 --> 00:39:22.320
But what did you get from looking
at tango and learning tango? Well,

513
00:39:22.360 --> 00:39:27.159
I was in my fifties and I
had worked a lot, so I had,

514
00:39:27.360 --> 00:39:30.719
you know, adventures with great men, but I was still not re

515
00:39:30.880 --> 00:39:36.800
committing to a private life with someone, and I felt that I had to

516
00:39:37.079 --> 00:39:43.159
rediscover my feminine energy and I was
a bit closed up. I used my

517
00:39:43.199 --> 00:39:47.400
work to get back to life,
but I needed to reconnect to the feminine

518
00:39:47.440 --> 00:39:54.159
and the masculine and tango. Oh, oh, it's the most delicious dance.

519
00:39:54.639 --> 00:39:59.960
Oh, it's really is exquisite.
I just got back in my body,

520
00:40:00.159 --> 00:40:02.679
learn to move again, and to
you know the you know, the

521
00:40:02.840 --> 00:40:07.519
paradox. All of life is a
paradox, but entangle. The woman has

522
00:40:07.679 --> 00:40:12.320
no say what's over about the steps
or where you're going, but she has

523
00:40:12.440 --> 00:40:15.599
all the power at the same time. And I thought that was so so

524
00:40:16.159 --> 00:40:21.440
such a beautiful image of life,
and I really adored it and moved on

525
00:40:21.519 --> 00:40:25.880
to tantric yoga because I wanted to
experience small about the feminine and the masculine.

526
00:40:28.159 --> 00:40:32.519
So what is tantric yoga? So
so tantric yoga is just amazing,

527
00:40:32.519 --> 00:40:37.840
Well, then I'm really talking about
tentric yoga, not not you know,

528
00:40:37.079 --> 00:40:43.960
sexual experience or whatever. Trantric yoga
is a very very very ancient discipline where

529
00:40:44.000 --> 00:40:49.440
you access the divine through pleasure.
And the theory is that at one point

530
00:40:49.480 --> 00:40:53.800
we were hermaphrodites, and then with
a world of duality to experence ourselves,

531
00:40:53.800 --> 00:41:00.400
we're divided in the feminine and the
masculine, and that we're all yearning to

532
00:41:00.760 --> 00:41:05.800
unite again. The feminine the masculine. Now that you're a woman or a

533
00:41:05.800 --> 00:41:08.400
man, that's not what I'm talking
about, because you can have some woman

534
00:41:08.519 --> 00:41:13.000
with more masculine, some men with
more feminine. We all have it in

535
00:41:13.239 --> 00:41:17.280
us. But the tenth week,
your gay is a fusion of the two

536
00:41:17.639 --> 00:41:24.239
into nothingness, and that's where you
access a divine and okavor, yeah,

537
00:41:24.440 --> 00:41:28.840
that speaks my language so beautifully,
Sophie. I have long, long,

538
00:41:28.920 --> 00:41:31.760
long and fascinated with androgyny, or
the idea that I think about how we

539
00:41:31.840 --> 00:41:37.119
can each draw from the other gender
in order to more fully complete ourselves or

540
00:41:37.159 --> 00:41:40.360
live in a bigger, fuller way, And so that really speaks to me.

541
00:41:40.480 --> 00:41:45.840
So I guess I gotta two.
Yeah. Yeah, it's not the

542
00:41:45.920 --> 00:41:51.280
other gender, it's the other energy. Energy, Yeah, because we have

543
00:41:51.360 --> 00:41:55.079
a homosexuality, right, so that's
the same gender in a couple, but

544
00:41:55.159 --> 00:42:01.599
the feminine the masculine is the same. There they can connect the fusion of

545
00:42:01.639 --> 00:42:07.320
it. You see, I do
see that the distinctions energy, not gender.

546
00:42:07.400 --> 00:42:09.480
Got it, got it? Got
it? Okay, there's two more

547
00:42:09.519 --> 00:42:13.519
things that I want to talk about
before we lose our time together. And

548
00:42:13.559 --> 00:42:15.519
I know there's a million more things
we could speak about, but you also

549
00:42:15.599 --> 00:42:17.480
talk. And I don't know if
I can say this right, but there

550
00:42:17.519 --> 00:42:22.079
are time spent in Ayahuaska, I
think it is, and the Super Bowl

551
00:42:22.119 --> 00:42:25.480
people in Peru. What was that
like and what were you doing there?

552
00:42:27.199 --> 00:42:30.519
I know that was exquisite at least, but exquisite. Now if you can

553
00:42:30.679 --> 00:42:35.760
get to the Amazon forest, I
promise you it's alive. I walked in

554
00:42:35.800 --> 00:42:38.199
there. I no, I didn't
walk in there. I took a boat

555
00:42:38.880 --> 00:42:43.840
to get into the Amazon forest and
then I walked and I felt I was

556
00:42:43.880 --> 00:42:47.079
in avatar. You know, this
beautiful forest in the Okay It was.

557
00:42:47.199 --> 00:42:51.480
It was like that this forest is
alive and when I think we're destroying it

558
00:42:51.559 --> 00:42:54.679
at quitch. But it's exquisite.
And I wanted to know what a shaman

559
00:42:55.039 --> 00:42:59.880
was. That's also something I didn't
do before. And they are the healer

560
00:43:00.119 --> 00:43:02.360
of the Amazon, like the doctors
of the Amazon. And what I got

561
00:43:02.440 --> 00:43:07.480
there was a distinction healing, which
you know, I never considered myself as

562
00:43:07.519 --> 00:43:14.199
a healer. I'm not a doctor
or healer as search, but they I

563
00:43:14.320 --> 00:43:19.039
learned it. Those people are,
you know, using plant medicine to heal.

564
00:43:19.800 --> 00:43:25.679
And the distinction healing is such a
soft tender beautiful distinction that I took

565
00:43:25.719 --> 00:43:30.480
back with me and my session with
people and my online seminars and all my

566
00:43:30.519 --> 00:43:36.239
work is now totally different because I
do heal. Now I know that I

567
00:43:36.320 --> 00:43:42.400
heal from They're constructing the ego and
moving opening a door for people to move

568
00:43:42.480 --> 00:43:45.400
from the ego to themselves, and
that is a healing by itself. And

569
00:43:45.440 --> 00:43:51.320
that's what I got. Extraordinary I
have. When I lived in Brazil,

570
00:43:51.360 --> 00:43:55.039
I did go to the pantanal,
which is it's like the swamplant area relative

571
00:43:55.159 --> 00:44:00.920
to the Amazon. I've not been
into the forest, but but just with

572
00:44:00.960 --> 00:44:07.760
the way you're describing it again,
your access to the divine and also just

573
00:44:07.920 --> 00:44:13.559
you know, these these long traditional
ways of healing and using plants in shame,

574
00:44:13.639 --> 00:44:16.639
and I mean, that's just it. It's an incredible swath of person

575
00:44:16.719 --> 00:44:21.599
you've cultivated. Sophie. Yeah.
Yeah, I love people. I love

576
00:44:21.719 --> 00:44:24.159
discovering people, and I love discovering
different people. You know that. It's

577
00:44:24.679 --> 00:44:30.840
it's so exciting. You feel like
you own a treasure hunt and I completely

578
00:44:30.880 --> 00:44:34.199
agree with that. And then that
brings us probably to the last thing that

579
00:44:34.239 --> 00:44:37.159
we'll be able to talk about.
You talk about your your commitment to your

580
00:44:37.239 --> 00:44:40.880
humanitarian work, and you've been a
UN representative for the Commission on the Status

581
00:44:40.920 --> 00:44:45.679
of Women in twenty seventeen, working
for the own g called the Hunger Project.

582
00:44:47.000 --> 00:44:51.400
Would you say a little something about
that experience and what that taught you.

583
00:44:52.360 --> 00:44:55.000
Yes, Well, I had the
idea that you see the UN.

584
00:44:55.519 --> 00:44:59.920
When I walked into the UN.
In this room there was every single count

585
00:45:00.039 --> 00:45:04.000
we represented, every single color,
language, dresses, and I bushed into

586
00:45:04.039 --> 00:45:07.519
tears, right because I really got
that's a possibility for human kind of peace

587
00:45:07.880 --> 00:45:12.440
is right the head, it doesn't
work. So I had a little idea

588
00:45:12.480 --> 00:45:15.679
that maybe if I could put my
little fingers somewhere, I could transform it.

589
00:45:15.840 --> 00:45:21.519
But I didn't succeed yet. But
I also wanted to see how the

590
00:45:21.559 --> 00:45:25.639
nonprofit worked because my ultimate dream,
my ultimate dream, and it is after

591
00:45:25.760 --> 00:45:31.840
I enrolled everybody in awareness and everybody's
nothing, inconsciously, is to create a

592
00:45:31.920 --> 00:45:37.679
global conversation for the sanctity of children. I think children needs to be made

593
00:45:37.840 --> 00:45:43.159
safe. They cannot look after themselves. I think we should remove them from

594
00:45:43.320 --> 00:45:51.679
conflict area from starving areas. And
I wanted to know how the nonprofit world

595
00:45:51.880 --> 00:45:57.800
worked. So I went with that
idea in mind, and if my book

596
00:45:57.880 --> 00:46:00.360
is a great success, then all
them and they will go to create those

597
00:46:00.400 --> 00:46:06.480
places for children. So that's my
idea. Oh my gosh, that's beautiful.

598
00:46:06.599 --> 00:46:08.400
I love that. And I can
also see you just being so touched

599
00:46:08.400 --> 00:46:13.360
and moved when you walked into that
space. And then there was also the

600
00:46:13.440 --> 00:46:15.000
last thing. I guess we have
a real quick time for as you participated

601
00:46:15.079 --> 00:46:21.679
in the fifty fifth Commission for Social
Development in twenty seventeen, was what was

602
00:46:21.719 --> 00:46:24.960
that about? Again? I learned
a lot, right, So I went

603
00:46:25.119 --> 00:46:29.480
there. Obviously I was working,
but I also learned a lot, and

604
00:46:29.840 --> 00:46:35.400
I am delighted to say that.
You know, people are not now dealing

605
00:46:35.440 --> 00:46:40.800
with poverty by pouring money in.
They are now training the people that are

606
00:46:40.880 --> 00:46:45.079
poor to get themselves out of property. You know. It's the equivalent of

607
00:46:45.440 --> 00:46:51.159
instead of giving you fish, you
teach somebody to fish. If you give

608
00:46:51.199 --> 00:46:53.679
them fish, they go starving.
In today's if you teach them to fish,

609
00:46:53.920 --> 00:47:01.000
they can set themselves up. And
the whole nonprofit world for against Poverty

610
00:47:01.239 --> 00:47:07.679
is now following that movement, and
that is heartwarming, really heartwarming, and

611
00:47:07.719 --> 00:47:13.880
the HANGU Project is really good at
it. Yeah, I thank you for

612
00:47:13.920 --> 00:47:17.360
that because I am very, very
encouraged by that. Having lived in Brazil

613
00:47:17.440 --> 00:47:22.400
and in the early nineteen nineties when
it was definitely much more of a developing

614
00:47:22.440 --> 00:47:25.639
country and there was a lot of
poverty. The favelas are a real thing.

615
00:47:27.960 --> 00:47:30.760
I saw that, and I was
there for a couple of conferences where

616
00:47:30.800 --> 00:47:35.760
the world convened on the environment and
such and saw the world try to come

617
00:47:35.800 --> 00:47:40.119
together and problems and that was incredibly
inspiring. So I can imagine how this

618
00:47:40.199 --> 00:47:45.360
has fueled your passion even more to
do the work that you want to do

619
00:47:45.440 --> 00:47:50.840
in service of what you're up to. Again, the complement of things that

620
00:47:50.880 --> 00:47:53.599
you that you're drawing from, Sophie
to be able to become the person that

621
00:47:53.639 --> 00:47:58.079
you become. You said something really
earlier that I wanted to just really celebrate,

622
00:47:58.079 --> 00:48:00.480
at least from my vantage point,
is all these things that you have

623
00:48:01.400 --> 00:48:06.440
come through, and of course the
way that you've navigated that navigated them.

624
00:48:06.480 --> 00:48:08.239
In my view, I mean,
all those things have helped you turn into

625
00:48:08.280 --> 00:48:13.840
the person, become the person you
were probably meant to become. Would you

626
00:48:13.840 --> 00:48:17.199
have asked for all those awful experiences
and difficulties. No, But I look

627
00:48:17.239 --> 00:48:22.559
at who you are today, Sophie, and it's it's awesome. Yeah,

628
00:48:22.760 --> 00:48:25.320
yeah, it's perfect, isn't it. I mean that, Yeah, it

629
00:48:25.360 --> 00:48:29.559
is, it is. You just
have to sender to life. The game

630
00:48:29.599 --> 00:48:32.880
of life is beyond what I can
make it mean. So now my my

631
00:48:34.079 --> 00:48:38.280
job is to just experience what there
is to experience. Yeah. Well,

632
00:48:38.440 --> 00:48:42.880
and we're at the time here,
so and say about twenty seconds, So

633
00:48:43.239 --> 00:48:45.719
what would you like to leave our
listeners with today? I can leave them

634
00:48:45.760 --> 00:48:51.960
with my mentra for life. You
reap what you saw and it is very

635
00:48:52.000 --> 00:48:54.800
good news. If you don't like
what you're reaping, just look at this

636
00:48:55.280 --> 00:49:00.519
what you're planting, and that that
gives you the power life because it's you

637
00:49:00.840 --> 00:49:05.840
and it's always you and that's the
big best news. Oh, that is

638
00:49:05.920 --> 00:49:07.800
wonderful way to finish, Sophie.
Thank you so much. It has been

639
00:49:08.079 --> 00:49:13.280
incredibly delightful, Ashanti to have you
on my show. Sophie, I thank

640
00:49:13.320 --> 00:49:16.960
you so much for joining me and
sharing your beautiful spirit with us. It's

641
00:49:16.960 --> 00:49:22.159
been delightful. Thank you, and
listen, I had a fantastic time.

642
00:49:22.239 --> 00:49:24.440
Thank you very much for having me
on the show. You are so welcome,

643
00:49:24.880 --> 00:49:28.280
and listeners, if you want to
learn more about Sophie McLean, her

644
00:49:28.320 --> 00:49:31.280
programs or her book. Visit her
website. It's Sophie McLean. Let me

645
00:49:31.320 --> 00:49:37.679
spell that for you. S O
P h I E M C L E

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00:49:37.920 --> 00:49:42.280
A N Sophie McLean dot com.
Last week, if you missed the live

647
00:49:42.280 --> 00:49:44.840
show, you can always catch a
bi recorded podcast. We were on the

648
00:49:44.880 --> 00:49:47.000
air with Ron Price, who was
the author of Growing Influence, a story

649
00:49:47.000 --> 00:49:51.920
of how to lead from character,
expertise, and impact. We talked about

650
00:49:51.920 --> 00:49:54.400
his book. Next week, we'll
be on the air with Matt Johnson,

651
00:49:54.440 --> 00:49:58.920
who was the president CEO of Motive
X. We'll be talking with him about

652
00:49:58.920 --> 00:50:01.719
his expertise and experience. It's measuring
motivation in the workplace and how to more

653
00:50:01.719 --> 00:50:06.199
effectively unleash It promised us to be
a compelling conversation. See you there.

654
00:50:06.239 --> 00:50:08.400
Remember that work is at least after
them alive. So let's work on Purpose.

655
00:50:12.119 --> 00:50:15.719
We hope you've enjoyed this week's program. Be sure to tune in to

656
00:50:15.880 --> 00:50:20.960
Working on Purpose, featuring your host
Alice Cortez, each week on the Voice

657
00:50:21.000 --> 00:50:25.239
America Empowerment Channel. This week,
find your life's purpose at work