The Meaningful Life with Andrew G. Marshall

Most of us have a conversation we’re avoiding: a child coming out to their parent, a family losing someone to terminal illness, a friend noticing early signs of dementia. There are moments when we simply must talk, listen and be there for one another. Dr Kathryn Mannix, a consultant in palliative care medicine, has spent her career having what she describes as “tender conversations” with bereaved...

A year’s worth of ideas about living a meaningful life is a lot to digest. Over 2021, we touched on trauma, reimagining death, recovering from infidelity, creating a business, parenting, gratitude, and so much more. In this retrospective episode, Andrew and podcast engineer Michael Dooney each choose their top five. These are the episodes that stayed with them, influencing and changing the way the...

How often have you heard masculinity described as “toxic”, “fragile”, or “in a crisis”? JJ Bola - writer, former youth worker, and UNHCR Ambassador - tries to go deeper in understanding how society is failing boys and men. In this episode, JJ Bola describes masculinity as a performance that we require boys to learn; along the way stifling their individuality and emotional health. Different societi...

Becoming a parent is impossible to prepare for. Jack Underwood describes “feeling that there should have been more paperwork. We signed a form or two and then they just sort of let us take you away. A human child”.  Parenthood changes our relationships, our view of the world, our sense of self. It’s rare in the whirlwind of night wakings and nappies, though, that anyone has the time to sit down an...

Stepping into a bath of ice isn’t the obvious pastime for a Northern winter. But if you do it the right way, the extreme cold can be: ❄️ Empowering - diving in means turning off the voices of procrastination. ❄️ Relaxing - staying in the bath requires you to work on physical relaxation. ❄️ Mindful - the cold focuses you hard on the now. ❄️ And, extremely healthy - there is evidence for cardiovascu...

How would your life change if you suddenly had all the money in the world? This was the experience of John Lefebvre, who was catapulted from an ordinary existence as a lawyer and musician into a life of untold wealth during the dotcom boom of the 2000s.  John’s life of luxury came to an abrupt halt in 2007, however, after the FBI stormed his home and arrested him for money laundering, racketeering...

Some of us are afraid of it, some of us gave it up decades ago, and some of us are trying desperately to master it. The art of flirting is a form of relationship magic, and it can bring so much happiness into our partnerships and our lives. Flirting opens us up to silliness, fun and joy.  In this episode Andrew talks with flirting coach and psychosexual therapist Cate Mackenzie about why we should...

“You’re only old once” says aging expert and author Kathleen O’Brien, and the wisest path is to embrace the freedom and wisdom of being an elder.  In this episode, Kathleen challenges us to: Tell everyone our age Ignore talk of “aging gracefully” Learn to love our aging appearance Celebrate our eccentricities  Expect younger people to respect us See time and death as our allies Kathleen O’Brien, 7...

Are you a serial people-pleaser? Do you find all your self-worth at work? Or do you gravitate towards difficult partners, with problems you feel driven to fix for them? These are some of the signs and symptoms of codependency. Codependency has a big impact on how we feel about ourselves, and may mean we keep repeating destructive relationship patterns.  In this episode, Andrew and psychotherapist...

Have you found the freedom to explore the rich landscape of your erotic self? Or did your childhood leave you feeling restricted and repressed by a sex negative mindset?  In this week’s episode Andrew talks to Silva Neves, a psychosexual psychotherapist, about: Why people DON’T fully explore their sexual selves Why labelling people “sex addicts” is unhelpful, and The liberating mindset of sex posi...

Matthew Fray is the author of the viral article “My Wife Divorced Me Because I Left the Dishes By the Sink”. His divorce left him emotionally crushed: struggling not to cry all the time, and finding it hard even to breathe.  In this episode Andrew and Matthew talk about the lessons of Matthew’s failed marriage, and about how Matthew is using his own experiences in his coaching work with men experi...

Your last encounter with a poem may well have taken place in a grim classroom, perhaps a painful dissection of WB Yeats or Matthew Arnold. Poetry can be something entirely different, however, and prize-winning poet John McCullough gives us poetry that is a source of joy, mindfulness and sheer fun. John McCullough “guides us through a world of déjà vu, doubt and rapture” (Helen Mort). His poetry gi...

Many of us, particularly women, experience endless frustration because we don’t feel heard. At work and at home, it seems like we are constantly interrupted and rarely feel in control of a conversation. This week Viv Groskop, journalist, podcaster, stand-up comedian and author of How to Own The Room and Lift As You Climb, talks with Andrew about how to speak so that people will listen. Diving into...

We all know that good boundaries are pretty much essential if we want happy relationships. There is a lot of confusion, though, about what exactly a boundary is and how to make it work. Can we have too many boundaries? Should we ever compromise on the boundaries we set? This week Andrew talks about boundaries with Graham Johnston and Matt Wotton, psychotherapists and co-founders of the London Cent...

Is your home environment helping you to live the life you want, or does it get in the way? Clutter - the piles of stuff we don’t need and don’t use - can be a major block to our desire for clarity and meaning.  If we dig deep into the reasons we hold onto possessions, we can learn some uncomfortable lessons. Are we struggling to leave behind past relationships, past selves? Do we need more help to...

Have you ever experienced a strange, inexplicable coincidence that left you feeling “like a grand, mysterious character in a story?” One that seemed to suggest a particular relationship was “meant to be”, or, on the flipside, that it was time to let go? This week Andrew talks to Jungian analyst Robert Hopcke about synchronicity: the strange coincidences that make us feel like the universe is sendi...

For Andrew, it is the writings of Dr James Hollis, one of the world’s most eminent Jungian analysts, that have “sustained me through my dark times”. James Hollis' books also regularly help Andrew’s marital therapy clients to create change in their relationships and recover from infidelity.  For the 50th episode of The Meaningful Life With Andrew G. Marshall, Andrew speaks to James Hollis about wha...

According to Dr Warren Farrell, the world is facing a “boy crisis”. Suicide, ADHD and weak educational outcomes are among the problems boys and their parents face. Many bright boys are experiencing a “purpose void,” feeling alienated, withdrawn, and addicted to immediate gratification. Andrew and Warren discuss why boys are struggling and what parents, teachers, and policymakers can do to help our...

Are you jogging along, not really noticing how time is passing? Avoiding the big questions by spending hours on distractions that don’t really add much to your life? For most of us, if we knew death were around the corner, we would most likely use our time differently. Oliver Russell was one of the first people in the UK to be infected with COVID-19. All of his major organs shut down and a police...

Have you been told “just be yourself”, only to feel confused about what exactly that means? This week Andrew discusses with Dr Linda Berman seven important starting points for finding your authentic self.  Linda Berman is a writer, artist and retired psychotherapist. Before her retirement she worked privately, including in a psychiatric hospital, and for the NHS. Linda was also a counsellor and su...

Half of all women have experienced pain during sex. Yet the subject remains taboo, and help and understanding from the medical profession can be very hard to find.  In this week’s episode Fran Bushe, author of My Broken Vagina, shares her funny, moving quest to fix her sex life (and yours). During her journey toward understanding vaginismus, Fran was advised by doctors to have a glass of wine to l...

Diet culture is everywhere: it’s impossible to avoid exposure to “clean eating”, fat phobia and the thin ideal. Yet as Kate Daigle tells Andrew this week, it’s not possible to live a meaningful life whilst being fully immersed in diet culture. These are limiting beliefs that shrink people’s worlds. In this episode Kate Daigle, a specialist in supporting people to recover from eating disorders, tal...

We spend a lot of time feeling very serious about seeking meaning in our lives; but is it possible that the secret lies in making the search more fun? Can we say a creative, mutually affirming “yes” more often? And when do we need a self-protective “no”? This week Andrew and improv comedy star Pippa Evans have lots of fun together as they compare the strategies of improvisational comedy with those...

Men with sex or pornography addictions and problematic sexual behaviours need support to find the root of their pain. Eddie Capparucci helps these men find and listen to their inner child, and to figure out why that child is creating pain and upheaval in their lives. Eddie is a therapist certified in the treatment of sexual and pornography addiction. He and his wife, Teri, have a private practice...

The hard truth is that if you don’t allow yourself to fail, you won’t live a full life. Giles Paley-Phillips sees failure as a fascinating moment of opportunity. Failure offers the chance to take stock, re-evaluate, dust yourself down and give things another try.  Giles has a book and a podcast, both titled Blank, in which he asks highly successful people to share their experiences of going comple...