The Exchanges

Q It's like we're, we're never fully in the moment. We're always in the next moment, or always looking to escape the moment that we're in. Do you have any advice on how to be more present?

A I was just gonna say, hey, count me in. You know what I mean? I'm, I'm not, I'm no different. But I have cultivated tools, because I was interested to know, how does a human being, how can we control our breath? How do we become more present? I want to. That is really, My goal, but I also my, my life and my, my duty in some ways, my responsibility, I find as a human being is to be present. So I can actually grasp reality as it is, and not as I want it to be. So breath work that we call pranayama and yoga, meditation, silence, nature, for me, nature is the mother of all. She, uh, she teaches me so many lessons, and to be in silence with her, Is, for me, a blessing, and I look for it, and I search for it.

AI assessment note: “So breath work that we call pranayama and yoga, meditation, silence, nature”

Q How much harder is that doing all of this in more of a public spotlight than most families?

A So, yes, the public spotlight is part of our lives, that's, that's true, but it, it, it's not our lives, and we talk about daddy's job, being the prime minister of Canada, and one day he won't be prime minister of Canada, he will be somebody else, and who are we? What do we stand for? Um, when nobody's watching, when there's no spotlight, no titles, no important events, no important people, or whatever they are around us, who are we? Who are we in our core? I ask myself that question, always checking in, and I think that my kids know that they should be asking themselves that question, um, to actually discover what they're made of, and whether daddy's in that job or not, who are they? I think that's the most important. So when we are exposed, when we do go to a park, and people are clapping with balloons or whatever, they, they look back to me sometimes, and they're They'll raise their eyes or roll their eyes back and go, we know, we know, don't get used to this. Because I'm like, one day nobody's going to be clapping, and it's going to be a different life situation, and you will adapt because you have enough, um, knowledge and education and, and, and love that you'll be able to adapt. It's my only wish for my kids, really. The rest doesn't belong to me, belongs to them.

AI assessment note: “the public spotlight is part of our lives, that's, that's true, but it's not our lives”

Q Where did the interest from reading come from?

A Oh, the interest from reading. I mean... When I was young, I used to ask my parents to buy me des comptines, which are kind of like, uh, um, singing poems in a bit. Um, I was also curious about more mature content, more philosophical content. What is happiness? Why are we here at a young age? Um, romantic love. I was more into, um, Biographies than fiction, and I married a man, Justin, who is an avid reader. I don't think I've ever met anybody who reads more than he, he has, and when he was seven years old, he was sitting in his father's library, and he looked around, and he said, I'm going to read every book in here. A whole universe had opened up for him, and he Since the day we met, he, he and I were exchanging, you know, uh, reading suggestions and stuff, but we just don't read the same stuff, but it's good. So we can learn from one another and the stuff that we read differently. But my love for reading continues because I like to, once again, learn about human truths and what's happening. And I am an eternal, um, Life lover. So anything that inspires me to love life even more, I will read. And there are so many authors and Canadian authors out there who are exploring truth in different ways, whether it's through biographies or whether it's through poems. And I have them beside my, you know, my bedside table, and I don't have, apart from work and all the reading on Gender e…

AI assessment note: “When I was young, I used to ask my parents to buy me des comptines”

Q What's parenting like for you? You have a quite a unique situation.

A Parenting for me is, I would say the love of my life, is my priority, is my joy, is my grounds. I'm very close to my kids physically, mentally, psychologically. We, uh, we discuss a lot. We, we, we talk a lot. Um, we try to, even when there was frustrations that come along, we talk about them. Um, very physical, very cuddly, um, Close, closeness, proximity, lots of time in nature with my kids. When those moments arise in a very chaotic rhythm that, that our lives are all in, um, and yes, my life is in a unique context right now, I, um, I must say that I pinch myself, and I'm somebody who loves life. I'm an only child, and I grew up kind of thinking in my head, and also my parents telling me, hi, you know, just say, hi, my name is Sophie, would you like to play? I still have that in me. I still want to, you know, play with my kids, and that's where I just, I experienced deep joy. So it's not something I think about, something I just fully live.

AI assessment note: “Parenting for me is, I would say the love of my life, is my priority”

Q What do you mean relationship agility? I like that term a lot. What does that mean?

A Um, it means, and you know what, this is a topic that I've discussed with a friend of mine who is a Canadian author called Jeff Brown, who is, uh, deeply wise. And I'd invite people to, to read. And his wife actually is a great author also called Susan Forsyth. Um, and they reflect a lot on the human condition and relational agility for me is the capacity to, To understand yourself in a relational context, therefore, to understand the other. So the more, yes, you just said it, the more knowledge of ourselves that we have, the more capacity we have to adapt to a relationship. I do believe that we are meant to live surrounded. I don't believe we're cave men who are supposed to be isolated and live alone. I believe that we deeply search for Good group dynamics, compassion, strength together. I think we naturally lean towards that. So our role as a society is to encourage those dynamics. But as I said, we do live in very paradoxical, uh, times and concepts. So it's not easy to navigate and to swim against a lot of currents.

AI assessment note: “relational agility for me is the capacity to, To understand yourself in a relational context”

Q Who are you as a family? When you think about those values and like who you are when nobody's watching, what does that look like?

A The same person as when everybody's watching. Thank you to the forties. Um, yeah, no, I've never felt like this was taking on a role. It's, it became very organically organized, I would say, even if it's organized chaos, politics, um, you know, and, and what it, what it entails in some aspects of our lives. But, um, when we started, um, Everything became kind of like a natural extension of what I had already started in my life as a, as a person, as Sophie, um, with, you know, talking about women's issues and giving, uh, speeches and there's nothing that I changed from one day to the other because we're in this job, um, My values are the same, but my surroundings are different, and there's security, and you know, it's, there's attention, and it's intense, but I always go back to my center. I think that's what I've been looking for for a very long time, is how do I go back to my center? How do I actually find peace in my mind, in my heart, and be able to adapt to every single situation that life will throw at me? I think that's the main goal here.

AI assessment note: “The same person as when everybody's watching.”

Q You're, as married to the Prime Minister, I mean, you're in a unique position to see the world differently than most people, not only see more of it, and you mentioned you chose to see similarities. What are the things that you see that most of us don't see?

A Behind the curtain of politics. You know, I was not overly politicized before I met my husband. I had some core values that I believed in as a human being, and, um, I was completely blown away by what I have seen in the past years in politics, by the human beings I have met who sacrificed their lives, their family lives, their quality of life to serve. And it is very inspiring and at the same time very frustrating to see that, that sometimes some people will want to darken that picture and will, um, you know, have actions that will make it darker for everybody, but not for long. Because I think that going back to the truth, I think it's Churchill who said that, that the truth, the truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but there it is in the end. I believe that. I believe that human goodness rises. At many moments. And it doesn't mean I'm naive. Quite the contrary. I see the forces at play. And I also see that goodness usually prevails. When you look at the state of the world right now, it's difficult to believe that, because so many people are suffering. But when you do, um, take all the facts together, and whether it's, you know, so many authors are working on this theme right now, as Steven Pinker The better angels of our nature. I know you probably read all this stuff, but there are so many researchers and scientists, too, looking at data …

AI assessment note: “Behind the curtain of politics. You know, I was not overly politicized”

Q I want to talk a little bit about that. We were talking a little bit before the podcast started about the Photoshop sort of like generation and Instagram and why people choose to, what's your take on why people choose to accentuate these moments in their lives that are non-representative of their broader lives? And what do you think the impact is?

A Oh, that's a deep question. I think that we all crave love and attention. We all want to be understood and cared for, and that's how a baby comes into the world. And I'm a mother now, and I always felt like I've, I've had this maternal intuition of caring, um, and I want other people to thrive. I want other people to succeed. But I see that In a world where, in a culture of individualism, where we have been taught that we were never enough, and where we have been shown visually, models, quote unquote, um, people or, or, or concepts of perfection, of obsession with youth. We are denying who we are as mortals, as human beings, as our condition, per se, and how we come into this world. The flower Grows and it dies, and you know, it's the circle of life cycle. It's kind of like we're denying that in some ways, and I think that the cult of individualism has deepened that gap between the natural state and the fake state, between life and death in some ways. Ageism, thinking about that gap between young people and older people. How do we see older people? What are we taught about them when we grow up? Where is that wise man or woman who Who should be transferring us her or his wisdom? Is that how we really live? I mean, in many Indigenous communities, that's how they live, and, and we have so much to learn about that, because I think that as we are getting older very slowly, and when …

AI assessment note: “I think that we all crave love and attention.”

Q What were you scared of? You said that, uh, most eating disorders are a result of fear.

A You know, when you go back to those days, like when I'm asked, when did you, when did you, you know, stop suffering from eating disorders? When you're in it, you don't think about that stuff, and you don't write the date down. There are many reasons why, uh, I had anxiety. I think it's, you know, teenage angst. Uh, I was an only child, so whether my parents, uh, gave me love, uh, because they did, you feel pressures in other ways, you know, that's Siblings can share and can talk about. I couldn't. So I grew up with, um, a father who was extremely performant. Um, and he started from nothing and he, you know, he succeeded in many ways that we can describe as patriarchal in our society. Um, and that put pressure on me as a young girl. I was always part of the boys because I was super, um, sporty and And I liked stuff that was a bit scary, you know, from barefooting to skydiving. And I, uh, I really got along well with a gang of boys. And I also had a couple of really good girlfriends, but I was never a gang girl. It was really more about one-on-one. Maybe it's because all I knew, because I was an only child. And I think that, you know, mix that up with all the culture that we were brought up in as somebody who's 43, born in 1975, Where there are still so many paradoxes between the emancipation of women and girls and the barriers that we still face on this planet, whether they are …

AI assessment note: “There are many reasons why, uh, I had anxiety. I think it's, you know, teenage angst.”

Q And you had no outlet for talking about this, or?

A Thank God I still had sports that allowed me to, in French we say, it means getting rid of like the negative, but, um, I went through therapy. So deep provoking thought processes and heart opening. I wanted to understand where it was coming from and yoga, meditation, perspective, maturity, Motherhood. Everything. Everything about life, I think, you can learn from. And sometimes, when the negative arises, because it arises in everybody, in everybody's lives, in different forms, um, I don't get scared of it. Whether it's critiques, you know, um, I try to keep a distance from it, and to create the same self-respect and inner love that I have in stillness, in happiness, and in sorrow. So that I can always go back there. It's my home. That's who I am. That's who everybody is. By the way, this doesn't belong just to me. Everybody has that capacity for inner peace and inner love. And I always tell my kids, you have this home, you have this life, but you should have all of that in a miniature version in your heart. Take it in that grand scheme of things and put it in your heart in a miniature version and take care of it. Cause that's the gift of life. And I'm getting emotional because it really is the gift of

AI assessment note: “Thank God I still had sports... but, um, I went through therapy.”

Q Is it harder to raise a family, given the circumstances that you're in, do you think?

A You know, I mean, some people would argue that yes, it is harder, but it's my life. So I'm not going to start comparing it. I'm in it. I'm going to start living it fully. And it is, um, treacherous by time in some, some, sometimes, and it is very demanding because there's lots of pressures and lots of demands and lots of requests and lots of, um, work that I want to accomplish. And I do put pressure on myself because, um, About, you know, 20 years ago, when I started in television in Quebec, I was already used to the cameras and all that. That wasn't an issue. So that, all of that is not new. But when there was more attention focused on what I was doing, it was even more, um, meaningful to me, for me to be in contact with so many human beings that were telling us, because you're telling your story, we feel that we can tell our story. And that's, My story about eating disorders, and what I went through in my teenage years, and how I'm healed, and I just want to help now. It's my only duty right now is to actually share the love and the knowledge that I got through my experience to be able to help others. So it's my life, and I live it fully. I don't want to compare it with any others.

AI assessment note: “some people would argue that yes, it is harder, but it's my life.”

Q When did you realize you had an eating disorder?

A You know, first of all, I knew exactly what I was suffering from in those years. I was educated. I knew of it. We weren't talking about eating disorders much in those years, and we thought that they must be maybe a capricious moment in a fortunate adolescent life, which is totally a stigma, a taboo, and wrong. The truth is that eating disorders, like any other kind of compulsion, are rooted in fear and anxiety, and Every single teenage person goes through those phases. We express it differently, but in the brain, the incentive reward system resembles many other types of addictions. So I was telling myself, you must stop this, this, why are you doing this? But it's not that easy. It's a compulsion, and your brain is learning how to react and want it. So it's a tough, it was a tough journey, and I healed from it, and I learned in so many ways that this kind of adversity or what Whatever your adversity is, and yes, of course, there's worse adversity than others, but you can compare it, because if one day you decide that you see your adversity as the nastiest, disgusting-looking, you know, gift wrapped in this nasty paper, you'll know that inside it is a gift, and that it's a gift for breaking open, and looking inside, and learning that self-love is possible, And that you can offer it to the world. And I think that is a healing path for peace and more justice, because it completely…

AI assessment note: “I knew exactly what I was suffering from in those years. I was educated.”