The Meaningful Life with Andrew G. Marshall

In this episode spiritual teacher Ayala Gill shares three fundamental questions with which to approach difficult situations life throws our way: ⭐️What can I learn from this moment? ⭐️What’s asking to be loved? ⭐️What can I give in return? Andrew and Ayala also discuss the nature of suffering, the difference between suffering and pain, animistic cosmology (the inherent luminous intelligence int...

When fear presents itself, we are deterred from the essential work of holding tough conversations, defending new ideas against the status quo, and standing up against injustice. Author Scott Simon founded the Scare Your Soul courage movement to help people harness their fears and lead more courageous lives. Since he became a “fear chaser”, Simon has had some big-ticket adventures: taking on his fe...

Psychotherapist Tonya Lester believes it’s OK to be difficult. This doesn’t mean being rigid, domineering or unkind. It means making sure that your partner has a sense of who you are and what you need. Of course, you won’t get there without learning how to disagree productively. In this episode Andrew and Tonya discuss how to develop mutually supportive relationships, including 8 ingredients for h...

Is it possible to decide to be happier, and then to go out there and make it happen? Hypnotherapist, author and podcaster Richard Nicholls believes that happiness is, at least in part, a skill to be learned. The more you practise, the easier it becomes.  Of course, each individual’s notion of happiness and their genetic capacity to achieve it easily will be very different. That doesn’t mean, thoug...

If you’re in relationship with a partner who is on the autism spectrum, the following may feel familiar: My partner seems to lack empathy and doesn’t care how I feel My partner misjudges me all the time - I can’t do anything right I can’t seem to find a way to communicate with my partner My partner feels attacked and criticised if I disagree We argue all the time and never resolve anything My part...

Forgiveness is a powerful spiritual tool that can bring profound relief, and unleash feelings of love blocked for years by personal resentments.  In this episode, Andrew discusses forgiveness with author and forgiveness expert Olivier Clerc. They cover:  ⭐️4 essential steps to forgiveness ⭐️Obstacles to forgiveness ⭐️The importance of spending time deciding what exactly forgiveness means to you...

Motherhood gets great PR: women are led by society to expect it to be continuously fulfilling and wonderful. The reality is, of course, more complicated. Children absorb so much of our energy that there can be too little left over to maintain a healthy sense of self.  Writer and journalist Geraldine Walsh is the author of Unraveling Motherhood , which explores postnatal depression, the “supermum m...

There’s no-one in the world who can push your buttons like your brother or sister. Sibling relationships (whether you live in the same postcode or ceased speaking to one another three decades ago) have a definitive influence on our adult lives. This week author and academic Dr Geoffrey Greif talks us through his extensive research on adult sibling relationships, based on hundreds of interviews and...

Love and relationships are already complicated, but they can feel even more so if you’re living with a mental health condition. This week author Allison Raskin talks about her experiences with OCD, and how overthinking can be managed in relationships and dating. How do you talk to a partner about your mental health? What is the difference between having valid concerns and catastrophising? What can...

If you often feel depressed, anxious, victimised or disappointed, you may be carrying a heavy load of unresolved emotional pain.  Psychotherapist and author Robert Jackman suggests that this pain, and associated patterns of behaviour, often stem from our lost inner child. This inner child brings with him or her a false narrative; played on repeat.  Painful childhood experiences can show up in adul...

What if we’ve gotten meaning all wrong? Perhaps “searching for meaning” is completely the wrong way to think about things. If we can reconceptualise, it may be far easier to build a life suffused with meaning and joy. Dr Eric Maisel has been fascinated by the subject of meaning since he was a small child. This week Andrew and Eric discuss Eric’s new book, which suggests that meaning is just a feel...

After her 13-year-old son Koby was murdered by terrorists, Sherri Mandell was forced to explore the nature of spiritual resilience in the face of overwhelming grief. In her book The Road to Resilience Sherri outlines seven steps required to face suffering and be enlarged:  Chaos Community Choice Creativity Commemoration (discussed in bonus episode for supporters) Consecration (discussed in bonus e...

One of the toughest challenges in a relationship is being able to forge our own individual selves. And it isn’t always something that gets easier over time.  Our ability to create a strong separate self independent of a couple relationship is strongly influenced by how we grew up, and what our relationship with our parents was like. In this episode Andrew talks with psychosexual therapist Juliet G...

These days “narcissist” has become the insult of choice for many of us caught on the wrong side of arrogance, self-absorption or monotonous bragging.  Narcissism is more complex than that, however, and an empathetic understanding of it can make it much easier to deal with partners or family members with narcissistic traits, or with full-blown narcissistic personality disorder. This week clinical p...

How can we have more meaningful, connected sex? Many couples today are stuck in a low-sex or no-sex dynamic, while others struggle to break a routine that feels unbearably dull. In this episode Jan Day, a relationship expert and psycho-spirital teacher,  discusses “Living Tantra”. Andrew and Jan cover how to “resensitise” in a world where there is not enough touch, and too many of us have become d...

Anger is one of the main reasons couples seek out the help of a marital therapist. It is an emotion we often fear, and which we are frequently taught to stifle and ignore in ourselves. This week’s guests, Mar Estarellas and Orsolya Szeverics, believe that repressing anger means repressing our authentic emotions. This can lead to muscle tension, physical pain, emotional distress and even depression...

Are you being held back by darker moments from your past? Would you like to find the courage to shine a light on some of the tragic or shameful moments that you don’t like to think about? This week author and therapist Malcolm Stern joins Andrew to discuss his new book Slay Your Dragons With Compassion . Malcolm and Andrew talk about confronting your fears and working through blocks in a way that...

Everyone has a different divorce experience, but getting divorced is pretty much guaranteed to change your life.  In this episode Samantha Baines, host of the Divorce Social podcast, shares her own experiences of divorce. Andrew and Samantha discuss: ⭐️The shock of divorce (even if you think you’re ready) ⭐️ Making the decision to get a divorce ⭐️ Dealing with what everybody else thinks. ⭐️ Th...

If you’re restless and irritable, or plagued by headaches or stomach upsets, then anxiety might be an issue. More and more of us are looking for support, and even diagnoses, to help manage anxiety. This week’s guest is Dr Anna Colton, a clinical psychologist, trained actress and TV presenter. Anna works with families, teenagers and couples, but also with performers and lawyers experiencing profoun...

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 numbness...

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 the author of Tell Me What You Want , a new book that explores how to identify and navigate our deepest longings. ...

Throw away your FitBit, stop counting your daily steps, and instead learn to run mindfully. If you can find the three key elements of space, silence and patience, you’ll be far more able to tackle big problems at work and at home. William Pullen is a psychotherapist who helps clients using his revolutionary method of Dynamic Running Therapy. His work combines movement and talk therapy to harness t...

How do you cope when life suddenly and dramatically falls to pieces? In March 2017 psychologist and author Niamh Fitzpatrick’s beloved sister Dara was killed in a helicopter crash.  Soon afterwards, Niamh’s marriage disintegrated, and she feared she would also lose the house she lived in. Life as she knew it had ended and the cumulative loss was staggering in terms of impact. As a psychologist for...

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...

Better sex, building a stronger connection with your partner, coping with anxiety, and dealing with shame and fear: these were some of the big themes that resonated on The Meaningful Life in 2022. Tracey Cox, international sex therapist, author and Daily Mail columnist, was the very first guest on episode one of The Meaningful Life. She joins Andrew again this week to discuss their stand-out episo...