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 Cortes. 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 Cortes. 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 that elicit's passion,

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

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draw on their expertise and share my
own experience consultings, speaking and developing workforces

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across the globe. Every week.
In these conversations, I hope you walk

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away with something you can put to
use and if I can do anything to

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

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leastcoretest dot com and use the contact
me feature to message me. Let's open

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a 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
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these radio show topics. You want
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online inspiration, accountability or mastermind communities
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out into the world. You want
to look into the purpose driven leadership program

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for yourself or your team, which
are offered on site or via webcast.

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You're interested in the Women on Purpose
Thought Leadership summitt in Portland, orient in

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

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

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onto this week's program. Hang on
to your hat. This is going to

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be an amazing adventure Today with Us. Today with Us is Sophie McLean,

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who has a commitment to participate in
the creation of a new culture within humankind

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and does with an irresistible passion,
from speaking engagements to leading one on one

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programs where she deconstructs the ego to
leading online seminars encouraging people to think consciously.

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Her hazandetre is to deliberate people from
the constraints and the illusion of the

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ego. She was publishing in May
her first book, The Elegance of Simplicity.

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She joined it today from France.
Sophie, Welcome to Working on Purpose.

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Hello, Hello, Elie. Hello, it is so wonderful to have

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you, and I just so appreciate
getting to reach across the globe to have

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you and share you with my listeners
who are also across the globe. I

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want to help our listeners understand that
a big reason I was so thrilled to

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have you come on the show is
that your experience and the depth of the

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voracious hunger of the human spirits who
defined meaning in life is what you really

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show for me. I mean,
I don't know that I've ever come across

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anybody, Sophie who has gone to
the depths to look for meaning like you

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have and has had the adventures that
you have along the way. So I

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want to share that with our listeners. Are you ready? Yeah? I

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am, I'm delighted. Okay,
okay, I think it would be great.

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I wanted to start if I could
by there's a do you have your

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book in front of you? I
wanted to see if we could read from

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page page three of that initial prayer. Do you have it in front of

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you? I do not, I
do not say what I do. Get

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it? Oh you do. I
will get it in just a moment.

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I want to read it for us. I think it is just perfectly encapsulates

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

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

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

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

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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 extraordinary,

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

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

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you come in a little bit?
Could you have it a little bit on

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that. I have been through despair, joy, happiness, sadness, and

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I think what is important is never
to give up. And I have this

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total conviction that it is possible to
create space for all of us on the

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planet where things work well, it
really works for everybody. So I never

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stop. I educate people, I
do whatever I can so that people have

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the access to actually create this enjoy
the magnificence of life. That is what

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feeds me and drives me and what
I breathe every day. It's always there.

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And you've take to get to that
place in life, Sophie, is

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what you have gone through your life
so far is extraordinary, and you've really

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been on a quest to escape,
as you say, the agreeable routine,

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to find meaning in life and move
from despair to joy, from fear to

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love, as you've been saying.
And you're somebody, Sophie, who's experienced

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rape and inability to have children and
widowhood, just to start just with some

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of those things. So from one
of the events that really kicked you into

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

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

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was that like? Well, it
was a last stro as you said,

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I had a difficult years A few
years before that, at about ten or

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fifteen years that when difficult. And
then the last stro was a this of

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my husband on honeymoon. And there
I can say that I really heat despair.

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So you know, me space where
suddenly you have nothing to look ahead.

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It's like it's like dark, there
is nothing, nothing you ever think

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would ever ever bring you joy ever
again, and you have to cope with

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

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bad enough to lose him, and
but on top of that, I made

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myself suffer even more by deciding that
I was obviously somebody that was doomed somehow,

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because I never heard of anybody having
so many tragedies in such sort of

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time. So that's how it was, just dark, dark despair. You

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

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was setting it thinking as you were
talking, I don't know that I have

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experienced that kind of despair in my
life, and so for you to come

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back from that depth to where you
are today is to me a testament of

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the human spirit. Yeah, it's
really the resilience, isn't it. I

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don't know you know, Alice,
I really don't know what drove me,

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But all I knew is that I
couldn't commit suicide because I wasn't willing to

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put that weight on the people I
loved around me and my family. There

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was absolutely that was not an option
for me. And I had this kind

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of black beastitting my inside. You
know, that's what despair felt like for

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me. So I just took one
step after the next, just breathing.

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And I had a lot of support
from my family. My father called me

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every day asking me if I was
awake and had gotten out of bed,

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and every day I said yes,
and every day he said, I'm proud

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of you. You know, this
kind of support isn't valuable. I appreciate

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that it's not at all on the
same level. But when I got divorced

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in twenty sixteen, my dear beloved
boss, who was a friend who became

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a friend of mine years and years
and years ago, called me every single

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weekend to make sure I was okay. And it was priceless for me.

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Yeah it was. And you know, list there is something when you say

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I didn't know what you knew,
But there is one thing I learned is

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if you haven't lost somebody you love, but you have gotten divorced. The

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pain you will experience for your divorce
is at the same level. It's the

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same depth and the one I experienced
losing my husband for you, You see,

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you can't compare loss and tragedy and
dramas saying, oh, yours is

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bigger than mine, because you experience
one hundred percent. What's this happening to

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you? Do you see what I
mean? I do, Yes, I

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do. And I have a sense
that the way that you've gone about your

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life, the things that have happened
to you in your life, and the

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way that you have chosen to respond
and react to them and learn from them,

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and then the quest of meaning that
you've been on and all the adventures

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though, seems to me have really
created something in you. You are dodible

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force, Sophie, and it's just
it's incredible to behold and be around.

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And anyway, I just I revere
that and I respect it, and I

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know that listeners are going to want
to hear just some of the things that

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you went that you did in that
thirst for meaning, So I wanted to

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share a few of them. Can
we jump into a couple of course of

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course. Okay, Well one of
the things that you did. So your

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

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I guess Kinnington Flying School and Airport, and after he passed, you managed

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

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twenty eight years old, is I
think? Yeah? So tell us a

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

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

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

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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 me.

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Right and when he died, I
found myself with four stepchildren responsible for

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his legacy. So I, you
know, I just put one foot in

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front of the other. Again.
The whole team that was around me,

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the directors of the Kidlington Airport,
ware extraordinary. And I dealt with lawyers,

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bankers that was extremely, extremely frightening
for me. I was quite a

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shy kind of person and I didn't
have much confidence. But I did it

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

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That's what I think gives a lot
of strength when my attention wasn't on

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me, So that's what kept me
going. I completely understand that, Sophie.

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Right, when we're focused in service
of others and not on ourselves,

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we can summon much more courage and
strength. I really do understand that.

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Yes, And you talk about that
in your book, by the way,

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as I heard, I read that, and I so how beautiful you bring

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that to light. And if I
may also say, I just so appreciate

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we're having this conversation in English.
You speak English extremely well. Obviously your

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first language is French, and your
accent is stunning. So I just want

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to I just want to say thank
you for joining this conversation and yet another

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one of the languages that you speak. Thank you. You're welcome, all

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right. So now I want to
get into some of these amazing adventures that

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when I read through your book,
Sophie, it's really it's the series of

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events and adventures that most of us
would only know by watching like a Hollywood

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movie or reading the novels. And
this was your life. This it sounds

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like a fantasy land, but this
is the real deal for you. And

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so one of the things that you
talk about in your book and your experiences

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is that you got trained to fly
helicopters and got a license, and that

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would have been also about when you
were twenty eight twenty nine. Yes,

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that's right, that's right, and
that's what that was, because you know,

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it sounds so great, right,
but in fact I was feeling dead,

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you know, like no, no, nothing to look forward to.

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So I think plying helicopters for me
was okay, I'm going to scare myself

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into feeling alive. And there was
this ex navy pilot. It was in

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Oxford in England, and they took
me on. They were very sweet and

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we did all sorts of crazy things
and with a helicopter, like chasing sheets

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and lending on roofs, and it
made me feel alive. I needed a

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challenge. Yeah, well, I
got to believe that's a challenge. Chasing

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sheep and landing on that's just so
great, Sophie. I've got the whole

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picture of your running after which one
which sheep should I go after? It's

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wonderful. Well, and then two
you talk about it and this is just

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hard for a lot of us to
fathom. I just listeners imagine this.

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And so at one point, Sophie, you decided to escape, escape what

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you call the agreeable routine. And
I really understand what you mean by that,

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by the way, because I felt
in the grasp and the throes of

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that too when I was in the
comfort of you know, when I was

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married, et cetera, et cetera. I had nothing to do with my

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ex husband, but that's just where
I was. But that agreeable routine,

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I know exactly what you mean.
And what you did was you sold your

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apartment, you gave away your furniture, you gave away your designer clothes,

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and you went to discover the world
and all was just a backpack and a

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passport. So would you share a
little something about that part of your life.

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Yeah, Yeah, it was like
an existential moment. It was about

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four years after my husband died,
and I was looking by then fine,

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you know if you had seen me, and people saw me, and I

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had put on a bit of weight
back and I was I looked like if

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I was functioning, but I was
still dead inside, and I had an

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existential moment in front of me,
or I can still remember it well.

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I looked at myself and I said, okay, you have to do something.

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It can't be a vegetable for the
rest of your life. And I

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was very, very scared that the
people I loved will die. You know,

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you get a bit traumatized and you
think everybody you love is going to

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die. So I thought that going
backpacking too far away countries would oblige me

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not to call them every hour to
see if they were still breathing, you

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see. So I kind of cornered
myself into okay, move, just move

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and go and take risks, and
that you do something. So that's what

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I did, and I started with
going down the Grand Canyon for fifteen days,

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which was quite fun. Then I
moved on to Tahiti and there I

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met some people on a sailboat and
they said they needed someone to help them

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bring a boat from New Zealand to
the Caribbean. So I said, oh,

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great, I'm coming and they said, do you know how to sell?

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I said no, no, but
I know how to navigate, which

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wasn't quite true because I always got
lost as a pilot. But you know,

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there I met them in New Zealand
and started crossing the South Pacific.

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Its was quite an adventure by itself. We got shipwrecked on Mister Island and

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it was fun. I mean,
it wasn't fun to be shipwrecked, but

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it turned out to be good.
And isn't it wasn't on Easter Island where

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you met the film crew, Is
that right? That's right. Five days

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after we made it to Easter Island, we just broke everything on the boat,

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but we made it. And then
you know, on Eastland, there

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is a runway where the space shuttle
led if it cannot land on Kennedy,

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So there is this enormous runway and
then five days later this big plane lands

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and two hundred hanky Americans and Australian
combat and they were making a movie.

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So I just got a job with
them because I got stranded on the island

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for six months. So I learned
about the film industry. It was fun.

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Oh my gosh. We have to
talk a little bit more about that,

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but let's grab our first break.
I'm Alice Cortez. We've been on

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the air with Sophie McLean, who
has an irresistible passion and commitment to participate

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in the creation of a new culture
within humankind and does so with an irresistible

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passion. As we say, we've
been talking a little bit about some of

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her early lives and some of the
depths of despair and how she worked her

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way out of that. Stay with
us, We'll be right back for more.

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Alice Cortes is a speaker and engagement
and development catalyst. She designs and

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delivers professional development, leadership and engagement
workshops and can bring her expertise to your

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organization. She will help ignite meaningful
development within your workforce that will increase employees

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engagement, performance and retention. To
learn more or to invite Elise to speak

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to your organization, please visit her
at www dot Elise Coortes dot com.

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She would welcome the opportunity to help
get your employees working on purpose. This

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is working on Purpose with Elise Cortes. To reach our program today, send

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an email to a lease Alise at
Aleasecortes dot com. Now back to working

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on purpose. Thanks for staying with
us, and welcome back to working on

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purpose if you're just joining us.
My guest is Sophie McLean, who has

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

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so with an irresistible passion. From
speaking engagements to leading one on one programs

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where she deconstructs the ego, to
leading online seminars encouraging people to think consciously.

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Her has on dat is to liberate
people from the constraints and in the

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illusion of the ego. She's publishing
in mayhe f first book, The Elegance

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of Simplicity. I'm your host at
Least Cortes. Okay, so Sophie,

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a couple things before I have you
go back and talk about your filming and

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East Roland experience. When I go
out and speak to audiences, a lot

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of times I'll open with and ask
the audiences to consider what will you do

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with your one precious life? And
when you think about the some contents and

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what's in that life, however long
or short it may be, I think

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a lot of people would scratch their
head and go, I don't know that

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I really did everything I wanted to
do in my life. And so when

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I read your book and in speaking
with you, you have lived what I

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considered to be a pretty extraordinary,
adventurous life, and you've really worked at

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it. And so here you are
shipwrecked in Easter Island. You run into

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this film crew and somehow, I
don't know how you managed it, you

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managed to get a job with the
film crew and you worked there. So

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what was that like you made a
movie or what we were in the movie?

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What was what was happening for you? What was your role? I

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was the assistant to the behind the
scene Derrick, So they were making a

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documentary about the making of the movie, and I became his assistant. And

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you know, a film call is
really fun because it's like a microcosm of

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the world. So you have everything
that you can find in the world,

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but on a very small scale.
So all the interaction between human beings and

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the work and the play and going
out at night and sometimes being bored because

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you have to wait hours for the
light and stuff like that. I learned

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a lot about this industry. And
also for me, I was young.

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I had just selled across as specific
and I was starting to feel alive again.

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So I used to you know,
we used to party at night in

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an old hangar because there is not
much on Mister Island, and I could

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dance again, which I thought I
was never able to do again. So

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it was being free, cut off
from everything for no email, nothing and

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it was a breath of fresh air. Mm hmm. I literally when you

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described that experience, Sophie, I
feel like I'm watching you being resuscitated back

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to life. That's what it seems
like you're saying as you as you narrate

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your experience. It is. And
you know what's marvelous. It's a moment

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as surrendered. I stopped fighting the
despair. I stopped fighting wanting to do

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something. I just backed it back
back and let life take me away.

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It wanted to take me, and
that's where I started to heal. That's

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extraordinary. And somewhere in there,
I want to know, how did you

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end up working as an interior designer
with a portfolio of private clients you have

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as diverse as the Sultan of Brune, the royal family of Abu Dhabi.

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

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

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a diploma of into a designer.
I got to work and that's where I

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looked normal, but I was still
dead inside. So I knew I had

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to do something drastic. Okay,
Now I think this was where it gets

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

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The somewhere in this despair piece and
I'm not exactly sure on the time,

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

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how old were you, where was
it in the story, and what

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was it about that experience of the
seminar that so seized you, so started

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

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

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had an adventure with him, and
he lived in Los Angeles, and I

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

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

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just done this transformational seminar and she
said to me she wanted to need to

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do it, and I got a
bit nervous. You know, in France,

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I think we less open minded in
the States, and I thought,

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oh, good god, she must
have been a dangerous place. So I

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went to rescue her. Frankly,
that's why I did it. That's so

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great. But on these three I
remember I stood on my chair and you

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know, like those pictures of people
that raised their arm to thank the sky

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for with gratefulness. This is how
I felt, because what I got in

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that seminar was that I could be
with the pain of losing my husband.

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You can actually stand the pain.
What was unsufferable was the suffering that I

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had brought on myself by deciding that
I was doomed and that was my making.

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

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

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hovering over my head, and that
was enough to free me be able to

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

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

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but the moment I said, Okay, this is too good, I've got

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to give it away, there was
not even as thought it was just too

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

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

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move to the state and lead for
fifteen years. So a couple of things.

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If you can go back to that
Sofia, it's so powerful, that

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

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I want a little bit more depth
there, just to really understand the profundity

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

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place where you were you felt like
you were doomed in life. To being

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free of that, it's got to
be literally not just night and day.

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It's got to be life and death. It is. It is exactly that

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I was. I was. One
moment, I was in a very dark

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place where there was no future,
and the next moment there was light.

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I had a light future. It's
what's called transformation, right, You moved

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from one space to the next,
And it's so simple. I saw the

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simplicity of it. That was the
easy exquisite. And also the fact that

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

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mean that I was doomed. Didn't
mean that I had bad luck, didn't

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

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means it was dead. Everything else
was a story I made up, and

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at that moment I got responsible for
my entire life. I knew then that

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I was a creator of my experience
in life. Whatever circumstances, and I

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moved from the realm of victim to
the so ram of being responsible. That's

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incredibly empowering that I do stand very
much in the space of inspiration and empowerment,

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and I I've got my arms wrapped
white around that one, Sophie.

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So thank you for giving us access
to really what it was for you,

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Because I wanted our listeners to be
able to stand in that space with you

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and glimpse that, at least for
themselves, is there and whatever they're wrestling

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with in life right now. I
wanted them to be able to glimpse that,

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and you did that beautifully. Thank
you. So I also want a

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presence for our listeners and help them
understand just what you did. So,

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you know, it sounds to me
like you're one of those kind of people

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who, once you decide something,
there's no middle ground for you. You're

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either in or you are out.
Right, it seems like that's who you

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are. Okay, I'm all out. I'm all out. I like to

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do things, well, yes I
do. And also you must remember I

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have no children, no husband by
then, right, so it's you know,

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some other people have more responsibility.
I could do that. I could

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dive in. Okay, that does
help, Thank you, Sophie. So

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one of the things you talk about
in your book is you you've conducted seminars

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ranging from two hundred to two thousand
participants, which is okay, that's already

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amazing, and you've trained over seventy
thousand people. Amazing impact in life when

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you were when you were working for
that organization, you were responsible for the

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recruitment and training of international leaders,
and you were the spokesperson for the company

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that you worked. You know,
and you've done work and led seminars in

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sixty different countries. That is phenomenal. Sophie forty eight. Forty eight,

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okay, forty eight. So what
I know too, because I work in

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this space of transformation too, and
maybe in a different way, but I

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also know that working in that space
does something to us. And so can

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you help us understand what did those
years those I think it was twelve years

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in that personal transformation space do for
you in providing it for others? So

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I got so when I started training
and reading right, So then I had

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a new meaning for my life.
Right, So my life was a bad

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then giving freedom to other people,
liberations from the suffering. So I now

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had a purpose. So that's the
first thing is that I could get up

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in 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 seminar. I thought,
whoever designed human being got it wrong,

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because we hurt each other. We
lie to each other, we're bad with

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

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We hurt the feelings. I mean, I really was convinced that really the

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

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them and spending all the time with
them, I I but really got the

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experience, but at the deepest place
in myself that human being are magnificent.

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It's just that there is this thing
that we could be ego that if it's

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not distinguished, is a problem.
But I think the very very nature of

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human being is exquisite. There is
no bad people. There is only people

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that do bad things. So from
one moment I thought human being a flawed

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The next moment, I saw them
as magnificent and doing sometimes stupid and bad

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things. You can imagine my expense
of being alive just totally transformed. I

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wasn't scared anymore. I could relate
to people. I had access to an

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enormous out of love and compassion.
Wow, that is I can't talk about

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a wholly different lens on the world, Sophie. That is that's extraordinary.

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I don't know that I understood that
you had that view of humanity before that

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the humans were flawed. Becoming magnificent
that is quite a transformation too. And

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again, thinking about what you're doing
today to now serve other people across the

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world. So you're the director of
access to awareness. I think that's one

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of the ways that you call yourself
and you specialize in the group training,

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mediation and personal coaching of leaders.
Would you say a little bit about the

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work that you're up to today now
that you've had that in your sales,

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What are you doing today? Yes? I have so I cannot stop,

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right, I cannot stop teaching awareness, bringing awareness, talking about awareness.

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I really do think awareness is the
ultimate power. Just examining what we think,

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what we do, and putting in
question being skilled particle about everything that

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we take for granted. Right,
So I have starting I so I want

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to spread this love for a when
so I want to talk lead conferences,

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really support people in knowing that there
is a way which is simple, if

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not easy, I do agree it's
not easy, but it's simple to actually

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create the life you dream of and
you want. And then because it's a

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question of time, I want to
talk to work with they accomplish people.

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Do you know those people Alice that
have everything like they have succeeded in accomplishing

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what they wanted to accomplish, the
business, the family, you know,

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

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but they have a lot of power, sometimes a lot of money. I

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want those people to transform so they
can take on the world. So that's

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also one of my big commitments to
get to the politicians and to the people

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that have a lot of power.
Oh my god, Sophie, that is

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00:31:12.240 --> 00:31:18.119
so great. And you know again
talk about preparation, right, you are

410
00:31:18.720 --> 00:31:21.920
a person who can do that work
based on what you've gone through and what

411
00:31:21.960 --> 00:31:26.359
you've done and how you've worked on
yourself. And I think I'm so glad

412
00:31:26.400 --> 00:31:27.480
you told me that, because I
didn't realize that's what you're up to.

413
00:31:27.599 --> 00:31:33.680
That is extraordinary. I'm right behind
you, Sophie. Go. You know

414
00:31:33.759 --> 00:31:37.480
the thing that it's amazing to be
grateful for what happened to me in my

415
00:31:37.519 --> 00:31:42.400
life and the tragedy and the difficulties. But I'm extremely grateful for it because

416
00:31:42.440 --> 00:31:47.599
I cannot give away what I didn't
experience, and as you said, I

417
00:31:47.640 --> 00:31:52.079
experienced a lot. So it makes
me useful because there is not many things

418
00:31:52.160 --> 00:31:55.559
I don't know what it feels like. You have gone through it, you

419
00:31:55.599 --> 00:32:00.839
see. So I'm filled with gratefulness
and I love all so the online saying

420
00:32:00.880 --> 00:32:07.920
now that I do with everybody right
that wants to, because I take people

421
00:32:07.039 --> 00:32:12.559
away from their routine and their busy
life for one hour, and for that

422
00:32:12.839 --> 00:32:15.920
hour, we learned to sink consciously. And it's exactly like a conversation I'm

423
00:32:15.960 --> 00:32:22.079
having with you. It's just on
any topic being love, sex, anxiety,

424
00:32:22.119 --> 00:32:29.200
fear, money, anything, but
we talk and learn to look at

425
00:32:29.240 --> 00:32:34.000
different views and it's very powerful.
I loved leading those will I do I

426
00:32:34.079 --> 00:32:37.880
can tell, I can tell how
wonderful. Okay, hold, that's up,

427
00:32:37.960 --> 00:32:40.440
Sophie. Our last break really quick. I'm Alice Cortez, your host.

428
00:32:40.440 --> 00:32:44.839
We learned the area Sophie McLean,
who has an irresistible passion and commitment

429
00:32:44.880 --> 00:32:47.079
to participate in the creation of a
new culture within humankind. I think you've

430
00:32:47.119 --> 00:32:50.920
been hearing that. After the break, we're going to talk about some of

431
00:32:50.920 --> 00:32:53.759
the adventures she's been having over the
last seven years their astounding stay with us.

432
00:32:53.839 --> 00:33:19.039
We'll be right back. Alise Cortes
is a speaker and engagement and development

433
00:33:19.079 --> 00:33:23.799
catalyst. She designs and delivers professional
development, leadership and engagement workshops and can

434
00:33:23.839 --> 00:33:29.680
bring her expertise to your organization.
She will help ignite meaningful development within your

435
00:33:29.720 --> 00:33:34.839
workforce that will increase employee engagement,
performance and retention. To learn more or

436
00:33:34.920 --> 00:33:38.599
to invite Elise to speak to your
organization, please visit her at www dot

437
00:33:38.720 --> 00:33:44.640
Elise Coortes dot com. She would
welcome the opportunity to help get your employees

438
00:33:44.880 --> 00:33:54.440
working on purpose. This is working
on Purpose with Elise Cortes. To reach

439
00:33:54.480 --> 00:34:00.200
our program today, send an email
to a lease Alise at at least Coortes

440
00:34:00.240 --> 00:34:07.880
dot com. Now back to working
on purpose. Thanks for staying with us,

441
00:34:07.880 --> 00:34:09.559
and welcome back to working on purpose. If you're just tuning in.

442
00:34:09.599 --> 00:34:14.000
My guest is Sophie McLean, who
has a commitment to participate in the creation

443
00:34:14.079 --> 00:34:17.159
of a new culture within humankind and
does so with an irresistible passion, from

444
00:34:17.199 --> 00:34:22.079
speaking engagements to leading one on one
programs where she deconstructs the ego, to

445
00:34:22.159 --> 00:34:27.159
leading online seminars encouraging people to think
consciously or has ondetre is to liberate people

446
00:34:27.159 --> 00:34:30.639
from the constraints and the illusion of
the ego. So she's publishing in May

447
00:34:30.679 --> 00:34:34.760
her first book called The Elegance of
Simplicity. I'm your host at least Cortes,

448
00:34:35.719 --> 00:34:37.079
So, Sophie, in this last
segment here, I really want to

449
00:34:37.079 --> 00:34:42.079
bring to life for our listeners some
of the adventures, not just some of

450
00:34:42.119 --> 00:34:44.800
the adventures you've had in the last
seven years. But before I do that,

451
00:34:45.719 --> 00:34:50.039
since I am a person who really
does investigate into a lot of reading

452
00:34:50.039 --> 00:34:52.400
and I believe very strong in education, I just want to hear a little

453
00:34:52.400 --> 00:34:57.880
bit about your study of two degrees
in philosophy, and you say that you

454
00:34:57.960 --> 00:35:00.079
are fueled by an intense desire to
know the way wisdom of the stages.

455
00:35:02.559 --> 00:35:08.000
How have those experiences contributed to your
ongoing transformation. Well, you know about

456
00:35:08.000 --> 00:35:14.000
the routine we were talking about earlier
on the problem in life, right,

457
00:35:14.079 --> 00:35:16.880
if we don't know that we either
expand or we contract, then we're struck

458
00:35:16.880 --> 00:35:21.800
in the routine. So I always
want to expand. And that was an

459
00:35:21.880 --> 00:35:29.280
area of life that I knew I
didn't have any education in, I mean

460
00:35:29.719 --> 00:35:32.519
other the one that we all have, right, So I really wanted to

461
00:35:32.639 --> 00:35:38.360
go and start with Homer and go
all the way to today and just know

462
00:35:38.519 --> 00:35:44.159
what all the feelos of us had
said about all the questions that fascinated me.

463
00:35:44.320 --> 00:35:46.639
So I went back to school.
I went back to school. It

464
00:35:46.679 --> 00:35:53.000
was it was interesting because I ended
up a little bit running the university in

465
00:35:53.039 --> 00:35:57.880
France. But it was fun.
Of course you did, of course you

466
00:35:57.960 --> 00:36:00.920
did. I have this vision of
you walking through the world. So if

467
00:36:00.920 --> 00:36:06.280
you this this little fireball that everywhere
you go it just fires off something and

468
00:36:06.320 --> 00:36:07.719
you know, just but you could
see it like, you know, like

469
00:36:07.880 --> 00:36:12.199
radar on a map moving about the
world. That's what you look like when

470
00:36:12.199 --> 00:36:15.079
I when I think about you,
well, at least people find me exhausting

471
00:36:15.199 --> 00:36:20.320
as well. I really have to
tell the truth here, right, I

472
00:36:20.360 --> 00:36:23.320
am a bit tiring as well,
because I can't stop training. So I

473
00:36:23.360 --> 00:36:30.599
even trained the teachers at the university, which was not too welcome. But

474
00:36:30.039 --> 00:36:36.480
I'm learning. I understand where you're. As one of my girlfriends likes to

475
00:36:36.519 --> 00:36:38.519
say, you're you're a stiff drink. You're You're not for the faint of

476
00:36:38.559 --> 00:36:45.159
heart for sure, exactly. Oh
okay, so let's talk about some of

477
00:36:45.159 --> 00:36:49.239
these amazing adventures. Okay, I
was. I would have loved to have

478
00:36:49.239 --> 00:36:52.280
been in your back pocket on any
of these, but one of them.

479
00:36:52.360 --> 00:36:55.639
Starting with your Hinduism studies with a
guru and come come mel I think it

480
00:36:55.719 --> 00:37:00.519
is India. And then you have
Buddhism with the Dalai Lama. Oh my

481
00:37:00.599 --> 00:37:02.599
gosh, I would I would?
I want to do that kind of work.

482
00:37:02.639 --> 00:37:07.440
Tell us a little bit about what
that was like. So I am

483
00:37:07.480 --> 00:37:10.440
a yes to life? Right?
So actually life brings mess, opportunity,

484
00:37:10.599 --> 00:37:13.880
and as much as I can,
I say yes. Right. So I

485
00:37:13.920 --> 00:37:22.039
first met Sima lakshmid Vi in the
States actually and I just thought, okay,

486
00:37:22.079 --> 00:37:25.400
I don't know about Hinduism. So
I followed her for a year.

487
00:37:25.639 --> 00:37:30.760
I went to the Kumbamela. I
think there is seventy million Hindus in that

488
00:37:31.880 --> 00:37:37.280
gathering. At the heel of the
at the feet of the Himalayas, and

489
00:37:37.079 --> 00:37:44.800
I learned about poverty and again finding
the magnificence of human being. You know,

490
00:37:44.880 --> 00:37:49.519
I cooked the whole night because there
you have to feed all the poor.

491
00:37:50.039 --> 00:37:52.400
This is you know. I was
in a kind of I was in

492
00:37:52.480 --> 00:37:55.239
a tent, but it was a
kind of ashtrak and anybody that came to

493
00:37:55.280 --> 00:37:59.840
the tent we had to feed.
So we spent our entire night cooking and

494
00:38:00.039 --> 00:38:05.880
feeding people on during the day.
And I think I learned humidity. I

495
00:38:05.960 --> 00:38:10.199
learned not to be frightened of sick
people, poor people. I didn't speak

496
00:38:10.199 --> 00:38:15.880
the language, but we had a
communication on the less and frankly, after

497
00:38:15.920 --> 00:38:20.039
two months, I could have stayed
there much longer. You know, when

498
00:38:20.079 --> 00:38:23.519
this space gets totally perfect and you're
in harmony with everything, it was really

499
00:38:23.519 --> 00:38:29.840
great. And I promised myself that
I wouldn't go in the Ganji River because

500
00:38:29.880 --> 00:38:35.000
I thought it was polluted. Within
twenty minutes I was in it. Of

501
00:38:35.119 --> 00:38:37.440
course, it was so hot,
it was so hard. There was no

502
00:38:37.519 --> 00:38:43.239
way. I thought, well,
but look I'm doing it well. I

503
00:38:43.599 --> 00:38:45.880
admire so much. High I happened
in India. I spent three weeks in

504
00:38:45.880 --> 00:38:51.039
India. I didn't do necessarily a
spiritual quest there and also to Malaysia,

505
00:38:51.199 --> 00:38:54.280
but they gave me just a little
bit of a touch of what you're talking

506
00:38:54.280 --> 00:38:58.400
about. Now. You made me
want so much more. So I will

507
00:38:58.480 --> 00:39:01.880
also continue that question too. But
now if we are on the other side,

508
00:39:01.880 --> 00:39:06.400
well, maybe another other end of
the energy spectrum. Maybe as you

509
00:39:06.880 --> 00:39:10.760
studied tango in your search for feminine
and the masculine, which is I think

510
00:39:10.760 --> 00:39:15.800
it's such a beautiful, exotic dance. Having lived in Brazil and ben to

511
00:39:15.920 --> 00:39:20.440
Argentina, I've seen it. It's
magnificent. But what did you get from

512
00:39:20.760 --> 00:39:24.440
looking at tango and learning tango?
Well, I was in my fifties and

513
00:39:24.639 --> 00:39:28.719
I had worked a lot, so
I had, you know, adventures with

514
00:39:28.880 --> 00:39:32.840
great men. But I was still
not re committing to a private life with

515
00:39:32.920 --> 00:39:40.480
someone and I felt that I had
to rediscover my feminine energy and I was

516
00:39:40.559 --> 00:39:44.840
a bit closed up. I used
my work to get back to life,

517
00:39:44.840 --> 00:39:52.039
but I needed to reconnect to the
feminine and the masculine and tango. Oh

518
00:39:52.440 --> 00:39:58.840
oh, it's the most delicious dance. Oh it's really exquisite. I just

519
00:39:58.880 --> 00:40:01.920
got back in my body, learn
to move again. And to you know,

520
00:40:01.960 --> 00:40:06.199
the you're not the paradox. All
of life is a paradox. But

521
00:40:06.320 --> 00:40:10.360
in tango, the woman has no
say whatsoever about the steps or where you're

522
00:40:10.400 --> 00:40:14.239
going, but she has all the
power at the same time. And I

523
00:40:14.280 --> 00:40:19.639
thought that was so so, such
a beautiful image of life, and I

524
00:40:19.679 --> 00:40:23.760
really adored it and moved on to
tent tric yoga because I wanted to experience

525
00:40:23.800 --> 00:40:30.000
small about the feminine and the masculine. So what is tan tric yoga so

526
00:40:30.519 --> 00:40:36.639
so tentric yoguys just amazing. Whether
I'm really talking about tentric yoga not not,

527
00:40:37.639 --> 00:40:39.400
you know, sexual experience or whatever
trend. Trik you gay is a

528
00:40:39.639 --> 00:40:46.800
very very very ancient discipline where you
access the divine through pleasure. And the

529
00:40:46.800 --> 00:40:52.880
theory is that at one point we
were hermaphrodites, and then with a world

530
00:40:52.880 --> 00:40:57.280
of duality to experience, ourselves were
divided in the feminine and the masculine,

531
00:40:57.480 --> 00:41:04.960
and that we all yearning to unite
again the feminine the masculine. Now that

532
00:41:05.039 --> 00:41:07.199
you're a woman or a man,
that's not what I'm talking about, because

533
00:41:07.239 --> 00:41:10.840
you can have some woman with more
masculine, some men with more feminine.

534
00:41:10.880 --> 00:41:15.400
We all have it in us.
But the tent with yoga is a fusion

535
00:41:15.519 --> 00:41:22.960
of the two into nothingness, and
that's where you access a divine and OK,

536
00:41:23.800 --> 00:41:28.480
yeah that speaks my language, so
beautiful, Sophie. I have long,

537
00:41:28.639 --> 00:41:31.320
long, long and fascinating with androgyny
or the idea that I think about

538
00:41:31.320 --> 00:41:36.960
of how we can each draw from
the other gender in order to more fully

539
00:41:37.000 --> 00:41:39.760
complete ourselves or live in a bigger, fuller way. And so that really

540
00:41:39.840 --> 00:41:44.639
speaks to me. So I guess
I got to my list too. Yeah.

541
00:41:44.920 --> 00:41:49.400
Yeah, it's not the other gender, it's the other energy. The

542
00:41:49.559 --> 00:41:52.920
energy. Yeah, because we have
a homosexuality, right, so that's the

543
00:41:53.039 --> 00:41:58.239
same gender in a couple, but
the feminine the masculine is the same.

544
00:41:58.360 --> 00:42:04.400
There they can connect the fusion of
it. Do you see, I do

545
00:42:04.480 --> 00:42:07.480
see that the distinction energy, not
gender. Got it, got it?

546
00:42:07.519 --> 00:42:10.559
Got it? Okay, there's two
more things that I want to talk about

547
00:42:10.559 --> 00:42:14.760
before we lose our time together.
And I know there's a million more things

548
00:42:14.760 --> 00:42:16.400
we could speak about, but you
also talk. And I don't know if

549
00:42:16.400 --> 00:42:20.840
I can say this right, but
there're time spent in Ayahuasca, I think

550
00:42:20.840 --> 00:42:24.400
it is. And the shipable people
in Peru. What was that like,

551
00:42:24.519 --> 00:42:29.400
and what were you doing there?
I know that was exquisite, els,

552
00:42:29.480 --> 00:42:34.199
but exquisite now if you can get
to the Amazon forest, I promise you

553
00:42:34.239 --> 00:42:37.480
it's alive. I walked in there. No, I didn't walk in there.

554
00:42:37.800 --> 00:42:42.400
I took a boat to get into
the Amazon forest and then I walked

555
00:42:42.519 --> 00:42:45.280
and I felt I was in avatar. You know, this beautiful forest in

556
00:42:45.360 --> 00:42:50.480
the Okay. It was like that
this forest is alive. And when I

557
00:42:50.519 --> 00:42:53.480
think we're destroying it, that quitch. But it's exquisite. And I wanted

558
00:42:53.519 --> 00:42:58.320
to know what a shaman was.
That's also something I didn't do before.

559
00:42:58.719 --> 00:43:01.599
And they are the healer of the
Amazon, like the doctors of the Amazon.

560
00:43:01.639 --> 00:43:06.400
And what I got there was a
distinction healing, which you know,

561
00:43:06.519 --> 00:43:12.519
I never considered myself as a healer. I'm not a doctor or a healer

562
00:43:12.679 --> 00:43:15.840
as search, but they I learned
it. Those people are, you know,

563
00:43:16.039 --> 00:43:22.079
using plant medicine to heal. And
the distinction healing is such a soft,

564
00:43:22.280 --> 00:43:29.000
tender, beautiful distinction that I took
back with me and my session with

565
00:43:29.119 --> 00:43:34.639
people and my online seminars and all
my work is now totally different because I

566
00:43:34.679 --> 00:43:39.360
do heal. Now I know that
I heal from deconstructing the ego and moving

567
00:43:39.679 --> 00:43:44.920
opening a door for people to move
from the ego to themselves, and that

568
00:43:45.079 --> 00:43:50.360
is a healing by itself. And
that's what I got. Extraordinary I have.

569
00:43:50.480 --> 00:43:52.000
When I lived in Brazil, I
did go to the Pantanao, which

570
00:43:52.039 --> 00:43:57.280
is the it's like the swamp plan
area relative to the to the Amazon.

571
00:43:57.360 --> 00:44:01.039
I've not been into the forest,
but but just the way you're describing it

572
00:44:01.360 --> 00:44:07.719
again, your access to the divine
and also just you know, these these

573
00:44:07.800 --> 00:44:14.280
long traditional ways of healing and using
plants and shamans. I mean, that's

574
00:44:14.360 --> 00:44:19.880
just it. It's an incredible swath
of person you've cultivated. Sophie. Yeah,

575
00:44:20.039 --> 00:44:22.039
yeah, I love people. I
love discovering people, and I love

576
00:44:22.079 --> 00:44:28.519
discovering different people. You know that
it's so exciting. You feel like you

577
00:44:28.599 --> 00:44:32.239
own a treasure hunt. I completely
agree with that. And then that brings

578
00:44:32.320 --> 00:44:36.159
us probably to the last thing that
we'll be able to talk about. You

579
00:44:36.199 --> 00:44:39.719
talk about your commitment to your humanitarian
work, and you've been a un representative

580
00:44:39.719 --> 00:44:45.159
for the Commission on the Status of
Women in twenty seventeen working for the ong

581
00:44:45.360 --> 00:44:50.599
called the Hunger Project. Would you
say a little something about that experience and

582
00:44:50.599 --> 00:44:54.159
what that taught you. Yes,
well, I had the idea that you

583
00:44:54.199 --> 00:44:58.760
see the UN when I walked into
the UN. In this room, there

584
00:44:58.840 --> 00:45:02.199
was every single conlture, we represented
every single color, language, dresses,

585
00:45:02.239 --> 00:45:07.440
and I brushing you tears right because
I really got that's a possibility for humankind

586
00:45:07.000 --> 00:45:10.599
of peace. It's right the end, it doesn't work. So I had

587
00:45:10.639 --> 00:45:14.719
a little idea that maybe if I
could put my little finger somewhere, I

588
00:45:14.719 --> 00:45:21.039
could transform it. But I didn't
succeed yet. But I also wanted to

589
00:45:21.079 --> 00:45:25.039
see how the nonprofit works because my
ultimate dream, my ultimate dream, and

590
00:45:25.119 --> 00:45:31.199
it's after I enrolled everybody in awareness
and everybody's nothinking consciously, is to create

591
00:45:31.800 --> 00:45:37.239
a global conversation for the sanctity of
children. I think children needs to be

592
00:45:37.400 --> 00:45:42.960
made safe. They cannot look after
themselves. I think we should remove them

593
00:45:43.000 --> 00:45:51.159
from conflict area from starving areas.
And I wanted to know how the nonprofit

594
00:45:51.320 --> 00:45:57.440
world worked. So I went with
that idea in mind. And if my

595
00:45:57.559 --> 00:46:00.159
book is a great success, then
all them and it will go to create

596
00:46:00.199 --> 00:46:06.000
those places for children. So that's
my idea. Oh my gosh, that's

597
00:46:06.039 --> 00:46:08.440
beautiful. I love that and I
can also see you just being so touched

598
00:46:08.440 --> 00:46:13.400
and moved when you walked into that
space. And then there was also the

599
00:46:13.480 --> 00:46:15.000
last thing. I guess we have
a real quick time for is you participated

600
00:46:15.079 --> 00:46:21.840
in the fifty fifth Commission for Social
Development in twenty seventeen. What was that

601
00:46:21.880 --> 00:46:25.480
about? Again? I learned a
lot, right, So I went there.

602
00:46:25.760 --> 00:46:30.039
Obviously I was working, but I
also learned a lot, and I

603
00:46:30.079 --> 00:46:35.719
am delighted to say that. You
know, people are not now dealing with

604
00:46:35.840 --> 00:46:42.199
poverty by pouring money in. They
are now training the people that are poor

605
00:46:42.480 --> 00:46:45.800
to get themselves out of property.
You know, It's the equivalent of instead

606
00:46:45.840 --> 00:46:51.719
of giving fish, you teach somebody
to fish. If you give them fish,

607
00:46:51.800 --> 00:46:54.119
they go starving. In today's if
you teach them to fish, they

608
00:46:54.119 --> 00:47:01.840
can set themselves up. And the
whole nonprofit world for Against Poverty is now

609
00:47:01.920 --> 00:47:07.840
following that movement, and that is
heartwarming, really heart warming, and the

610
00:47:07.920 --> 00:47:13.960
Hanger Project is realy good at it. Yeah, I thank you for that,

611
00:47:14.119 --> 00:47:17.559
because I am very very encouraged by
that. Having lived in Brazil and

612
00:47:17.760 --> 00:47:22.880
in the early nineteen nineties when it
was definitely much more of a developing country

613
00:47:22.880 --> 00:47:25.639
and there was a lot of poverty, that the favelas are a real thing.

614
00:47:28.000 --> 00:47:30.760
I saw that, and I was
there for a couple of conferences where

615
00:47:30.800 --> 00:47:35.800
the world convened on the environment and
such and saw the world try to come

616
00:47:35.840 --> 00:47:39.960
together on problems, and that was
incredibly inspiring. So I can imagine how

617
00:47:40.039 --> 00:47:45.280
this has fueled your passion even more
to do the work that you want to

618
00:47:45.320 --> 00:47:50.679
do in service of what you're up
to. Again, the complement of things

619
00:47:50.719 --> 00:47:53.639
that you're drawing from, Sophie,
to be able to become the person that

620
00:47:53.679 --> 00:47:58.079
you become. You said something really
earlier that I want to just really celebrate,

621
00:47:58.079 --> 00:48:00.519
at least from my vantage point,
is all these things that you have

622
00:48:01.440 --> 00:48:06.039
come through, and of course the
way that you've navigated that navigated them.

623
00:48:06.519 --> 00:48:08.280
In my view, I mean,
all those things have helped you turn into

624
00:48:08.280 --> 00:48:13.880
the person to become the person you
were probably meant to become. Would you

625
00:48:13.880 --> 00:48:17.239
have asked for all those awful experiences
and difficulties. No, But I look

626
00:48:17.239 --> 00:48:22.719
at who you are today, Sophie, and it's it's awesome. Yeah.

627
00:48:22.800 --> 00:48:27.000
Yeah, it's perfect, isn't it? Yeah? It is? It is.

628
00:48:27.079 --> 00:48:30.840
You just have to sue ender life. The game of life is beyond

629
00:48:30.920 --> 00:48:36.039
what I can make it mean so
now my job is to just experience what

630
00:48:36.119 --> 00:48:39.800
there is to experience. Yeah,
well, and we're out of time here,

631
00:48:39.840 --> 00:48:43.800
so and say about twenty seconds,
Sophie, what would you like to

632
00:48:43.880 --> 00:48:49.559
leave our listeners with today? Can
leave them with my mentor for life.

633
00:48:49.639 --> 00:48:52.880
You reap what you saw, and
it is very good news. If you

634
00:48:52.920 --> 00:48:59.039
don't like what you're reaping, just
look at this what you're planting, and

635
00:48:59.440 --> 00:49:01.800
that gives you the power life because
it's you and it's always you, and

636
00:49:01.840 --> 00:49:06.920
that's the big best news. Oh, that is a wonderful way to finish,

637
00:49:06.960 --> 00:49:09.440
Sophie. Thank you so much.
It has been incredibly delightful, al

638
00:49:09.519 --> 00:49:13.960
Chante to have you on my show. Sophie, I thank you so much

639
00:49:14.000 --> 00:49:19.119
for joining me and sharing your beautiful
spirit with us. It's been delightful.

640
00:49:19.639 --> 00:49:22.000
Thank you, Alissa. I had
a fantastic time. Thank you very much

641
00:49:22.000 --> 00:49:25.440
for having me on the show.
You are so welcome, and listeners.

642
00:49:25.440 --> 00:49:29.199
If you want to learn more about
Sophie McLean, her programs, or her

643
00:49:29.199 --> 00:49:31.920
book, visit her website. It's
Sophie McLean. Let me spell that for

644
00:49:31.960 --> 00:49:37.440
you. S O. P h
I E M C L E A N

645
00:49:37.639 --> 00:49:42.519
Sophie McClean dot com. Last week, if you missed the live show,

646
00:49:42.559 --> 00:49:45.159
you can always catch if be recorded
podcast. We were on the air with

647
00:49:45.239 --> 00:49:47.320
Ron Price, who is the author
of Growing Influence, a story of how

648
00:49:47.360 --> 00:49:52.440
to lead from character, expertise,
and impact. We talked about his book.

649
00:49:52.559 --> 00:49:54.760
Next week, we'll be on the
air with Matt Johnson, who was

650
00:49:54.760 --> 00:49:59.039
the president and CEO of Motive X. We'll be talking with him about his

651
00:49:59.079 --> 00:50:02.280
expertise and experience. It's measuring motivation
in the workplace and how to more effectively

652
00:50:02.360 --> 00:50:06.239
unleash it. Promised us to be
a compelling conversation. See you there.

653
00:50:06.280 --> 00:50:07.920
Remember that work is at least a
third of our life, so let's work

654
00:50:07.960 --> 00:50:15.480
on purpose. We hope you've enjoyed
this week's program. Be sure to tune

655
00:50:15.519 --> 00:50:20.440
in to Working on Purpose, featuring
your host Alas Cortes, each week on

656
00:50:20.480 --> 00:50:45.599
the Voice America Empowerment Channel. This
week, find your life's purpose at work.