Sofia Sarkar

A long time ago, a recruiter told me to write a list of five things professionally and five things personally, using one word each to define what lights you up and makes you feel fulfilled. If you are not doing at least three things from either side of that list, why are you doing it? At the beginning of my career, I realized half the time I was not doing any of those things. I was just doing what looked good on my CV because someone told me that was the path. But whose CV are you creating, yours or someone else's? It probably all started about eight years ago. I used to work in advertising, doing behavior change work. There were lots of campaigns that were going well, and one guy turned around and asked me, what are your hobbies, what do you like doing? I said, I love art and I love dancing. Then I realized I could not remember the last time I did any of those things.

I took the van and headed out. I had always been drawn to Lisbon. I always felt it was a city I could live in. Over the last ten years, I had passed through a small fisherman's town called Ericeira. I did not really know why. I had gone there for a day because it was on the route to somewhere else. It just so happened that every time I had been there, something pulled me back. I drove to Portugal, and the minute I got there, my whole body felt calm. It was like, okay, this is where I am meant to be. What unfolded after that was the feeling, for the first time ever, that I really belonged somewhere. It has taken me to Colombia and the Sierra Nevada, working with the Iwakus, connecting with different community projects, and still trying to see where that wants to unfold.

As I arrived in Portugal and started to settle down, I was starting a new innovation consultancy and opening up to new ideas. I was finding my way into regeneration. I had been in a sustainability context and realized that it did not feel quite right. I started going to ecstatic dances, being in eco communities, co living, and seeing different ways people wanted to live. A little while ago, someone told me we've misappropriated the word weird. It used to mean uniqueness, individuality, and a kind of magical, mystical sense. We should all get a bit more weird, enjoy our diversity, experiment in how we express ourselves, and celebrate who we really are and want to be in each other. The more space we create earlier on, when raising children and teenagers, the more we can encourage them to listen and follow what excites them, and to have space to experiment, to get things wrong, and to try things out. Encouraging risk and experimentation enables people to find their own path.

Recently, we have been learning from the Aakus, spending time with them and talking about what is the song being played by all of us and our unique role in it. Along this journey, I started to hear about a prophecy. Vagilio, who runs Ecstatic Portugal, shared at a five day ecstatic event that there is a prophecy in Portugal called the Fifth Kingdom, first prophesized around 300 years ago and repeated multiple times since. The prophecy talks about the day the child rules, prisoners are freed, and everything is shared. What this means is that a new empire will be born. However, it will not be a physical empire, but a spiritual one. Originally, the Portuguese thought it was a child king coming to them. Now it is understood that the child who rules is your essence, your inner child, your joy, and your richness.

I had seen this astrologer who gave me some really interesting readings. As a result of seeing her, I ended up making some pretty significant choices. One of them was quitting my job in advertising almost overnight. I was on a trajectory toward things like 30 under 30 and a CEO type pathway, and I just decided, no, I cannot do this anymore. I walked in the next day, gave my notice, and said, I am out. They asked if I was sure, and I said yes. That was what triggered the first leap into traveling. I remember thinking, that place I just stopped in was pretty nice. It was by the beach, outside the city, and I could probably chill there. I drove to Portugal, and the minute I got there, my whole body felt calm. It was like, okay, this is where I am meant to be.

I realized I had spent my whole life noticing strange coincidences, like having dreams that came true or being able to guess people's family dynamics. While this whole process was happening, I went through a huge spiritual awakening. I started seeing things, tuning in empathically, and seeing past memories. I was asking myself what was happening. Everything was shifting so quickly, but at the same time, nothing was happening. As I was doing all of this inner work and starting to understand myself, it really shifted my perspective, while at the same time I was still doing innovation work for big multinational companies.

Alongside all of this, I went to a festival and met this guy, as you do, and had a wild telepathic connection with him. Afterward, I felt I needed to understand this about myself. I realized I had spent my whole life noticing strange coincidences, like having dreams that came true or being able to guess people's family dynamics. That experience sent me on a whole path of understanding energy. I started seeing energy workers, healers, going on shamanic retreats, and doing fire walking. It was one thing after another, and I kept thinking how wild and fun these cosmic creations were. I started going to ecstatic dances, being in eco communities, co living, and seeing different ways people wanted to live.

I had seen this astrologer who gave me some really interesting readings. As a result of seeing her, I ended up making some pretty significant choices. One of them was quitting my job in advertising almost overnight. I was on a trajectory toward things like 30 under 30 and a CEO type pathway, and I just decided, no, I cannot do this anymore. I walked in the next day, gave my notice, and said, I am out. I had gotten into Human Design and learned that my sacral was my decision-making authority. I disciplined myself to answer only to that, even if it did not make sense. I kept telling myself, no, we are not doing this mentally, we are trusting the sacral, and following whatever came.

In 2021, I was stuck in London, pretty unhappy. I was doing interesting purpose consulting work and interesting projects, but something did not feel right. Over the space of about five weeks, my whole life blew up. My dad went into the hospital with a heart attack. One of my best friends died. I broke up with my partner. My sister had a baby, with complications, and we had to help look after him. My grandparents sold their house because my grandfather had recently passed away, a house I was meant to be living in. I lost my job. Every week, something happened that normally only happens once in a lifetime. I got to the end of those weeks and felt like I could not take any more. I was holding on by a thread, mentally. During that time, I had been building a van because I had come back and gotten stuck in lockdown and did not want to do the whole mortgage thing. When the van was ready, I realized I could not stay. There was nothing for me in England anymore. I love my family, but I had to find my path. I took the van and headed out. I drove to Portugal, and the minute I got there, my whole body felt calm. It was like, okay, this is where I am meant to be.

I had gotten into Human Design and learned that my sacral was my decision-making authority. I disciplined myself to answer only to that, even if it did not make sense. I kept telling myself, no, we are not doing this mentally, we are trusting the sacral, and following whatever came. My advice for people who haven't found their purpose yet is to find space to listen and experiment. Start developing tools for listening beyond intellectual understanding, like listening to your body. Notice how you react to things, when you contract or expand, when you choose out of fear, when you choose out of joy, when you are following shoulds. Listening to these cues and becoming attuned to when you are being programmed versus approaching something from truth starts to reveal patterning. In tandem with that, we have forgotten how to listen to our bodies. We are not encouraged to challenge ourselves and ask, what do I actually think about this? Is this something I want to do?

I am now on a five month journey because after 18 months of hibernation and listening, I felt I needed new energy. I needed to get out there, so I committed to doing a five month journey of synchronicity, just seeing where I went and who I would follow, without enough money to get back, and just being like, okay, the right jobs are going to come in, I will meet the right people, and I just need to listen, follow the signs, and see where I am. It has taken me to Colombia and the Sierra Nevada, working with the Iwakus, connecting with different community projects, and still trying to see where that wants to unfold. Over the last ten years, I had passed through a small fisherman's town called Ericeira. I did not really know why. I had gone there for a day because it was on the route to somewhere else. It just so happened that every time I had been there, something pulled me back. On the Lion's Gate portal in 2024, I felt ready. I could feel it was close. I just needed a sign. I wondered, what is the next thing, what am I meant to do? I blew out my candle and went back to sleep in my van. The next day, I got a call from my boss. He said, I'm really sorry, Sophia, but I have to let you go.

This approach resulted in me getting my first tattoo, which says surrender in Bengali, to your truth and intuition. That became the philosophy I would move through. What unfolded was finding community, connecting with people, and a lot of deep listening. Looking back now over the last 18 months, it has been a hibernation of my inner world. It was about listening, attuning, sensing subtleties, noticing what lit me up and what did not. The biggest struggle I have had in living my purpose is the moments when I feel completely lost, when it is still unfolding. You do not have a clear line of what you are doing or what you are about, and you are just watching everything unfold. Listening and creating that space also meant letting go of many things, which was uncomfortable and painful. It is during this transition, when things are falling away but nothing has come in yet, that you are in a vast space of not knowing. I read a quote a long time ago that says, when everything is unknown, everything is possible. Sometimes you need to clear the garden for a new crop to grow and just trust the process. There are really big blocks where it feels like pushing water uphill, like why is this so hard? Maybe it's hard because it's not in flow, and it's okay to let go, release control, and try to surrender into it as hard as it can be.

I took the van and headed out. I had always been drawn to Lisbon. I always felt it was a city I could live in. Over the last ten years, I had passed through a small fisherman's town called Ericeira. I did not really know why. I had gone there for a day because it was on the route to somewhere else. It just so happened that every time I had been there, something pulled me back. I drove to Portugal, and the minute I got there, my whole body felt calm. It was like, okay, this is where I am meant to be. What unfolded after that was the feeling, for the first time ever, that I really belonged somewhere. It has taken me to Colombia and the Sierra Nevada, working with the Iwakus, connecting with different community projects, and still trying to see where that wants to unfold.

As I arrived in Portugal and started to settle down, I was starting a new innovation consultancy and opening up to new ideas. I was finding my way into regeneration. I had been in a sustainability context and realized that it did not feel quite right. I started going to ecstatic dances, being in eco communities, co living, and seeing different ways people wanted to live. A little while ago, someone told me we've misappropriated the word weird. It used to mean uniqueness, individuality, and a kind of magical, mystical sense. We should all get a bit more weird, enjoy our diversity, experiment in how we express ourselves, and celebrate who we really are and want to be in each other. The more space we create earlier on, when raising children and teenagers, the more we can encourage them to listen and follow what excites them, and to have space to experiment, to get things wrong, and to try things out. Encouraging risk and experimentation enables people to find their own path.

Recently, we have been learning from the Aakus, spending time with them and talking about what is the song being played by all of us and our unique role in it. Along this journey, I started to hear about a prophecy. Vagilio, who runs Ecstatic Portugal, shared at a five day ecstatic event that there is a prophecy in Portugal called the Fifth Kingdom, first prophesized around 300 years ago and repeated multiple times since. The prophecy talks about the day the child rules, prisoners are freed, and everything is shared. What this means is that a new empire will be born. However, it will not be a physical empire, but a spiritual one. Originally, the Portuguese thought it was a child king coming to them. Now it is understood that the child who rules is your essence, your inner child, your joy, and your richness.

I had seen this astrologer who gave me some really interesting readings. As a result of seeing her, I ended up making some pretty significant choices. One of them was quitting my job in advertising almost overnight. I was on a trajectory toward things like 30 under 30 and a CEO type pathway, and I just decided, no, I cannot do this anymore. I walked in the next day, gave my notice, and said, I am out. They asked if I was sure, and I said yes. That was what triggered the first leap into traveling. I remember thinking, that place I just stopped in was pretty nice. It was by the beach, outside the city, and I could probably chill there. I drove to Portugal, and the minute I got there, my whole body felt calm. It was like, okay, this is where I am meant to be.

I realized I had spent my whole life noticing strange coincidences, like having dreams that came true or being able to guess people's family dynamics. While this whole process was happening, I went through a huge spiritual awakening. I started seeing things, tuning in empathically, and seeing past memories. I was asking myself what was happening. Everything was shifting so quickly, but at the same time, nothing was happening. As I was doing all of this inner work and starting to understand myself, it really shifted my perspective, while at the same time I was still doing innovation work for big multinational companies.

Alongside all of this, I went to a festival and met this guy, as you do, and had a wild telepathic connection with him. Afterward, I felt I needed to understand this about myself. I realized I had spent my whole life noticing strange coincidences, like having dreams that came true or being able to guess people's family dynamics. That experience sent me on a whole path of understanding energy. I started seeing energy workers, healers, going on shamanic retreats, and doing fire walking. It was one thing after another, and I kept thinking how wild and fun these cosmic creations were. I started going to ecstatic dances, being in eco communities, co living, and seeing different ways people wanted to live.

I had seen this astrologer who gave me some really interesting readings. As a result of seeing her, I ended up making some pretty significant choices. One of them was quitting my job in advertising almost overnight. I was on a trajectory toward things like 30 under 30 and a CEO type pathway, and I just decided, no, I cannot do this anymore. I walked in the next day, gave my notice, and said, I am out. I had gotten into Human Design and learned that my sacral was my decision-making authority. I disciplined myself to answer only to that, even if it did not make sense. I kept telling myself, no, we are not doing this mentally, we are trusting the sacral, and following whatever came.

In 2021, I was stuck in London, pretty unhappy. I was doing interesting purpose consulting work and interesting projects, but something did not feel right. Over the space of about five weeks, my whole life blew up. My dad went into the hospital with a heart attack. One of my best friends died. I broke up with my partner. My sister had a baby, with complications, and we had to help look after him. My grandparents sold their house because my grandfather had recently passed away, a house I was meant to be living in. I lost my job. Every week, something happened that normally only happens once in a lifetime. I got to the end of those weeks and felt like I could not take any more. I was holding on by a thread, mentally. During that time, I had been building a van because I had come back and gotten stuck in lockdown and did not want to do the whole mortgage thing. When the van was ready, I realized I could not stay. There was nothing for me in England anymore. I love my family, but I had to find my path. I took the van and headed out. I drove to Portugal, and the minute I got there, my whole body felt calm. It was like, okay, this is where I am meant to be.

I had gotten into Human Design and learned that my sacral was my decision-making authority. I disciplined myself to answer only to that, even if it did not make sense. I kept telling myself, no, we are not doing this mentally, we are trusting the sacral, and following whatever came. My advice for people who haven't found their purpose yet is to find space to listen and experiment. Start developing tools for listening beyond intellectual understanding, like listening to your body. Notice how you react to things, when you contract or expand, when you choose out of fear, when you choose out of joy, when you are following shoulds. Listening to these cues and becoming attuned to when you are being programmed versus approaching something from truth starts to reveal patterning. In tandem with that, we have forgotten how to listen to our bodies. We are not encouraged to challenge ourselves and ask, what do I actually think about this? Is this something I want to do?

I am now on a five month journey because after 18 months of hibernation and listening, I felt I needed new energy. I needed to get out there, so I committed to doing a five month journey of synchronicity, just seeing where I went and who I would follow, without enough money to get back, and just being like, okay, the right jobs are going to come in, I will meet the right people, and I just need to listen, follow the signs, and see where I am. It has taken me to Colombia and the Sierra Nevada, working with the Iwakus, connecting with different community projects, and still trying to see where that wants to unfold. Over the last ten years, I had passed through a small fisherman's town called Ericeira. I did not really know why. I had gone there for a day because it was on the route to somewhere else. It just so happened that every time I had been there, something pulled me back. On the Lion's Gate portal in 2024, I felt ready. I could feel it was close. I just needed a sign. I wondered, what is the next thing, what am I meant to do? I blew out my candle and went back to sleep in my van. The next day, I got a call from my boss. He said, I'm really sorry, Sophia, but I have to let you go.

This approach resulted in me getting my first tattoo, which says surrender in Bengali, to your truth and intuition. That became the philosophy I would move through. What unfolded was finding community, connecting with people, and a lot of deep listening. Looking back now over the last 18 months, it has been a hibernation of my inner world. It was about listening, attuning, sensing subtleties, noticing what lit me up and what did not. The biggest struggle I have had in living my purpose is the moments when I feel completely lost, when it is still unfolding. You do not have a clear line of what you are doing or what you are about, and you are just watching everything unfold. Listening and creating that space also meant letting go of many things, which was uncomfortable and painful. It is during this transition, when things are falling away but nothing has come in yet, that you are in a vast space of not knowing. I read a quote a long time ago that says, when everything is unknown, everything is possible. Sometimes you need to clear the garden for a new crop to grow and just trust the process. There are really big blocks where it feels like pushing water uphill, like why is this so hard? Maybe it's hard because it's not in flow, and it's okay to let go, release control, and try to surrender into it as hard as it can be.