The Meaningful Life with Andrew G. Marshall

How can we learn to be at ease in our bodies so that we can be fully “in the moment” during sex? Anxiety about body image is one of the biggest obstacles to a happy, fulfilled sex life. Many people seek therapy to help them relax and enjoy sex with their partner, others struggle on in low-sex or no-sex relationships.  In this classic episode, Andrew talks to KATE MOYLE, a psychosexual and relation...

Society would grind to a halt without the work done by unpaid carers - yet they are too often left to feel invisible, unsupported and alone.  In this episode, Andrew talks to PENNY WINCER, the author of Tender: The Imperfect Art of Caring, about how to provide care for loved ones without burning out yourself.  Penny shares her deeply personal story of caring for her mother, who lived with mental i...

When did you last learn to do something totally and utterly new? Tom Vanderbilt, author of Beginners: the Joy and Transformative Power of Lifelong Learning, was awestruck by his young daughter’s insatiable need to know how to do almost everything. He was inspired by her to embark on a year of learning purely for its own sake. Tom had a truly unique year - a circuitous journey of learning, in which...

In a world that often rewards toughness and detachment, could empathy actually be a hidden superpower? This week, Andrew speaks with psychiatrist and bestselling author Dr. Judith Orloff about how empathy can become one of the most powerful tools for healing, personal growth and connection. Drawing on neuroscience, psychology, and energy medicine, Judith explains how anyone can deepen their empath...

Today, the “four pale horsemen” of war, famine, pestilence and death have broken into our comfortable lives once again.  As the climate emergency and shortage become normalised, how do we live through crisis after crisis without falling into fear and anxiety on the one hand, or agitated reaction and rage on the other?  Do we face the horsemen, go into denial or settle for the dull throb of numbnes...

Have you tried everything to fix your relationship, but nothing seems to work? Are you torn between staying and giving it one more try, or finally walking away? This week, Andrew talks with renowned couples therapist MICHELE WEINER-DAVIS about how to navigate one of the hardest decisions in a relationship: When is it time to stop trying? Michele is the creator of the “Divorce Busting” approach, wh...

Are you living a life you really believe in, or are you filling in time until your “real life” begins? Are you waiting on marriage, a better job, a new exercise regime or a beautiful house to create an authentic life?  Humans do need to have goals and plans, but it is also destructive to ignore those inner voices telling us what would bring us individual meaning.  In this classic episode, Andrew a...

How do you keep the spark alive in your relationship when there are kids involved and you have ten, twenty, or thirty years on the clock? This week I talk to CAROLYN SHARP, a US-based marital therapist, and the author of Fire It Up: Four Secrets to Reigniting Intimacy and Joy in Your Relationship. We cover: Purpose: could you define a purpose for your marriage? Sex: how to talk about it honestly a...

“The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation” (Henry Thoreau).  In this classic episode, Andrew interviews therapist SIMON ROE. Simon has based his life’s work on helping men live an authentic life. After himself going through a period of quiet desperation in his mid-thirties, he went on to help men break the silence, find “the song inside”...

Many women long to be in a happy relationship, in which they feel safe, heard and understood, but have given up after years of disappointment and heartbreak. This week dating coach EVAN MARC KATZ joins Andrew to discuss why it’s so hard for women to find a man who wants to commit and to build a genuine relationship. They cover: How to get psychologically prepared to date successfully.  Knowing whi...

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”. Dr Hollis’ books also regularly help Andrew’s marital therapy clients create change in their relationships and recover from infidelity.  In this classic reissued episode, Andrew speaks to James Hollis about what it means to be resilient - how do we di...

Is your relationship a refuge from stress in a turbulent and demanding world? Do you always have each other’s backs? OR has the stress you face at work or in the culture seeped into your home life and created a rift between you? Marital therapist ELIZABETH EARNSHAW, the author of Til Stress Do Us Part, works with couples to identify and address the life stress that is undermining their partnership...

When women and men argue, women can often be more comfortable in expressing their feelings of hurt and anger.  Men can feel distressed by this strength of feeling, and may pull away emotionally. They may feel a very strong urge to occupy the ground of rationality and objectivity, which in turn leads their partner to push harder, desperately seeking emotional connection. Dr Avrum Weiss is a US-base...

Does something feel off about your intimate relationships? According to author and couples therapist Dené Logan, the answer to your problem may lie in the interplay of your masculine and feminine energies. Masculine and feminine polarities are present in every person and relationship. When we’re out of touch with the energetics within ourselves and those around us, it can create an internal strugg...

Life brings to all of us long periods where we feel lost or confused. We don't know how to get what we want, or even what it is that we want. The struggle to articulate the thing that might really make us “come alive” can be profound, even if we enter therapy. Charlotte Fox Weber is a psychotherapist, author and the founding head of The School of Life Psychotherapy. Her bestselling book, Tell Me W...

If you’re feeling anxious, meditation and mindfulness may not be the answer. Instead, author KARLA McLAREN would advise us to sit with the feelings of anxiety and hear the useful messages they’re bringing to help us cope with a tricky situation.  In this episode, Andrew and Karla discuss: How anger, shame and sadness can be the bearers of crucial information. “Negative” emotions and the skills and...

Have you ever felt so defeated and frustrated that you want to just throw in the towel and run away? Author KAY HUTCHISON did exactly that, fleeing her annual holiday to the Cote d’Azur, moving out of her home, and leaving behind her marriage and a well-established career.  In seeking to understand what forced this huge rupture in a previously smooth existence, Kay tried a range of mainstream and...

Society teaches men that strength lies in ignoring their feelings and “soldiering on”. Author and relationship coach BRYAN REEVES has seen the costs of this approach both in his own personal life and those of his clients.  This week Andrew and Bryan discuss:  Bryan’s story of finding direction after leaving the US Air Force. The reasons why men resist unwanted feelings The damage this causes to th...

Do you think about drinking alcohol more than you think about eating sandwiches? Do you spend significant amounts of time thinking about NOT drinking? Or are you one of the many with an uneasy feeling that alcohol is no longer bringing anything good into your life, and may well be holding you back? Therapist and sobriety expert VERONICA VALLI had a problematic relationship with alcohol for twelve...

Where did you find inspiration and meaning in 2024? This week sex therapist and friend of the podcast TRACEY COX joins Andrew to reflect on another year of The Meaningful Life, and to discuss the episodes that meant the most to them.  They share highlights from episodes with: Samantha Rodman Whiten (Dr Psych Mom) on Being an Adult Child of Dysfunctional Parents. Jessica Baum on Anxious Attachment....

It’s hard to move on social media these days without bumping into a post on gratitude. If you’re wondering what all the fuss is about, this week’s classic interview with Chester Elton, “the apostle of appreciation”, is for you.  According to Chester, gratitude cuts to the heart of who we really are. Gratitude exists at an emotional level and is about WHO is in our lives, WHAT we find meaningful an...

Christmas is a time of heightened emotions: lots of fun, lots of food, plenty of arguments. This year Andrew invites friend of the podcast and love coach CATE MACKENZIE to explore what Christmas means to each of them.  Cate and Andrew discuss: Their best and worst Christmas experiences.  Christmas traditions that work. Most evocative Christmas songs Cultivating the right mindset to make the most o...

Do we need a complete rethink of the rituals we use to mark the end of life? This week Andrew talks to undertaker and author RU CALLENDER about what he’s learnt over the course of his career.  Ru Callender became an undertaker in order to offer people a more honest experience than the stilted formality of traditional ‘Victorian’ funerals. Driven by raw emotion and the unresolved grief of losing hi...

What does it mean to be wise? Do we grow in wisdom as we age? Pioneering neuropsychiatric researcher Dr Dilip Jeste has spent years investigating the biological and cognitive roots of wisdom.  In this reissued classic episode, Andrew and Dilip discuss what we mean when we talk about wisdom, and whether we can, in fact, grow wiser. Dilip describes what he has established as the key components of th...

What if the answers you’re looking for in your life were available to you every night, if only you could learn to pay attention to your dreams? This week Andrew welcomes to the podcast the eminent psychoanalyst and This Jungian Life co-host JOSEPH LEE,  co-author of the new book Dream Wise: Unlocking the Meaning of Your Dreams .  Andrew and Joseph discuss how developing a practice of dreamwork can...