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Hello, I am a marital therapist, communications trainer and author. I have thirty-five years helping couples and individuals make better relationships. I have written twenty-plus self-help books which include the international best-sellers ‘I love you but I’m not in love with you’ and ‘How can I ever trust you again?’ My books have been translated into twenty languages. I trained with RELATE the UK’s largest counselling charity. Perhaps it has been turning sixty but I have become interested in spiritual as well as psychological questions. Who am I? What are my values – as opposed to my parents, my teachers and the wider society? What makes my life meaningful? What do I believe about life, the universe and everything? Although my clients might come to me because of destructive arguments, falling out of love and infidelity, they are also interested in having more meaningful relationships and a more meaningful life. So what is the meaningful life? Why do we so easily lose our way and get lost in depression, anxiety, doubt, addictions and obsessions: the swamplands of the soul? One thing I know for sure is that there is not one answer. Each of us has to find out for ourselves what makes our life meaningful. But we can learn from each other, share our experiences of how to navigate the journey, how to endure and learn from the swamp, and finally how to find solid ground. I have decided to use my original training in radio and journalism to interview witnesses for what makes life meaningful. Each week, I invite someone who is a therapist, academic, self-help coach or who has an enlightening personal story to share their knowledge or experiences. I hope our discussions will help you discover what makes your life meaningful and find more purpose and contentment.
Episodes
Monday Mar 04, 2024
Monday Mar 04, 2024
If you were raised in a sad, chaotic home, you will unsurprisingly experience difficulties in your adult relationships. If your parents were cold and distant and discouraged the expression of emotions, you’ll be equally ill-prepared for successful relationships or effective parenting.
This week Andrew talks to Dr Samantha Rodman Whiten (also known as Dr Psych Mom) about dysfunctional parenting and how to overcome its complex legacies.
Dr Samatha Rodman Whiten is a clinical psychologist, a writer, and the mother of three children. She hosts and writes the hugely popular Dr Psych Mom podcast and blog.
Follow Up
Get Andrew’s free guide to difficult conversations with your partner: How to Tell Your Partner Difficult Things
Take a look at Andrew’s new online relationship course: My Best Relationship Tools
Visit Dr Samantha Rodman Whiten’s website, DrPsychMom.com
Listen to Dr Samantha Rodman Whiten’s podcast The Dr. Psych Mom Show
Dr. Samantha Rodman Whiten also runs Best Life Behavioral Health, a virtual group practice of therapists and coaches.
Follow Dr Samantha Rodman Whiten on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @drpsychmom.
Join our Supporters Club to access exclusive behind-the-scenes content, fan requests and the chance to ask Andrew your own questions. Membership starts at just £4.50: https://www.patreon.com/andrewgmarshall
Andrew offers regular advice on love, marriage and finding meaning in your life via his social channels. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube @andrewgmarshall
Monday Feb 26, 2024
Monday Feb 26, 2024
Estrangement from adult children can be one of the most disorienting and painful experiences of a parent's life.
This week, Andrew talks to Dr Joshua Coleman, the author of Rules of Estrangement. They discuss:
- Why estrangement has become so common
- Why estrangement isn’t a one-sided story of parents who got what they deserved or overly entitled adult children.
- Approaches parents can take to achieve reconciliation with children and grandchildren.
- Techniques for starting a conversation.
- Dr Coleman’s own experience of estrangement from his daughter.
Dr Joshua Coleman is a psychologist in private practice in the San Francisco Bay Area and a Senior Fellow with the Council on Contemporary Families. He has written for The New York Times, The Atlantic, Huffington Post, and Psychology Today. He has been a frequent guest on The Today Show and NPR, and has even been featured on Sesame Street.
Follow Up
Get Andrew’s free guide to difficult conversations with your partner: How to Tell Your Partner Difficult Things
Take a look at Andrew’s new online relationship course: My Best Relationship Tools
Buy Dr Joshua Coleman’s new book, Rules of Estrangement
Visit Dr Joshua Coleman’s website
You might also enjoy Andrew’s interview with Celia Dodd on how to Navigate Your Relationship with Your Adult Children
Join our Supporters Club to access exclusive behind-the-scenes content, fan requests and the chance to ask Andrew your own questions. Membership starts at just £4.50.
Andrew offers regular advice on love, marriage and finding meaning in your life via his social channels. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube @andrewgmarshall
Monday Feb 19, 2024
Monday Feb 19, 2024
Could the ancient wisdom of Taoism help us with the emotional challenges of modern life? Author and Taoist priest Greg Ripley believes that a little-known 6th-century Taoist text called the Bai Yao Lu (Statutes of the Hundred Remedies) offers some profound answers.
In this episode, Greg and Andrew discuss some of the Hundred Remedies, and how they can help us go with the flow, deepen our meditation practice and find the natural balance in all things.
Greg Ripley is a Taoist Priest in the 22nd generation of the Quanzhen Longmen tradition as well as a Nature and Forest Therapy Guide. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Asian studies from the University of Tennessee and a master’s degree in acupuncture from Northwestern Health Sciences University. He is the author of The Hundred Remedies of the Tao, Tao of Sustainability and Voice of the Elders. He lives in Golden Valley, Minnesota.
Follow Up
Get Andrew’s free guide to difficult conversations with your partner: How to Tell Your Partner Difficult Things
Buy Greg Ripley’s book, The Hundred Remedies of the Tao: Spiritual Wisdom for Interesting Times
Visit Greg Ripley’s website
Follow Greg Ripley on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram.
You might also enjoy Andrew’s interview with Henry Emmons, Bring More Calm and Joy Into Your Life
Join our Supporters Club to access exclusive behind-the-scenes content, fan requests and the chance to ask Andrew your own questions. Membership starts at just £4.50.
Monday Feb 12, 2024
Monday Feb 12, 2024
For many women, intense caring and nurturing relationships cause their inner fire to dim, leaving them feeling they have lost themselves.
Author and Jungian analyst Lisa Marchiano’s new book is called The Vital Spark: Reclaim Your Outlaw Energies and Find Your Feminine Fire. Lisa wrote the book to help women “break free from the conditioning that has kept them confined to rigid roles and muffled the sound of their soul”.
Andrew and Lisa discuss the eight qualities Lisa identifies in the book: shrewdness, disagreeableness, desire, trickiness, sexuality, anger, authority, and ruthlessness. They also cover the ways in which the ancient wisdom of fairy tales (such as The Frog Prince and Fitcher’s Bird) can help women access these lost qualities and build a more complete, authentic self.
Lisa Marchiano is an award-winning author, certified Jungian analyst, and the co-host of This Jungian Life podcast. Her highly-acclaimed books draw upon the healing wisdom of fairy tales to help women connect more deeply with themselves.
Follow Up
Get Andrew’s free guide to difficult conversations with your partner: How to Tell Your Partner Difficult Things.
Take a look at Andrew’s new online course: My Best Relationship Tools
Read Lisa Marchiano’s new book, The Vital Spark: Reclaim Your Outlaw Energies and Find Your Feminine Fire or her first book, Motherhood: Facing and Finding Yourself.
Get a free 1-month trial of Lisa Marchiano’s new online fairy tale group for women, Spinning Straw
Listen to or watch This Jungian Life podcast
Visit Lisa Marchiano’s website.
Follow Lisa Marchiano on Instagram and Twitter @lisamarchiano
Listen to Andrew’s 2021 interview with Lisa Marchiano on Being a Mother.
Join our Supporters Club to access exclusive behind-the-scenes content, fan requests and the chance to ask Andrew your own questions. Membership starts at just £4.50.
Read Andrew’s Substack newsletter The Meaningful Life, and join the community there.
Andrew offers regular advice on love, marriage and finding meaning in your life via his social channels. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube @andrewgmarshall
Monday Feb 05, 2024
Monday Feb 05, 2024
Menopause is a seismic transition for women, and for their partners. The physical and emotional changes it brings will undoubtedly reverberate into a couple’s sex life.
Irish therapist Beth Wallace believes that this transition can be an opportunity rather than an ending. While decreases in hormones definitely impact women’s bodies in some detrimental ways (which will need management), decreased satisfaction with our sensual and sexual lives is NOT inevitable.
Andrew and Beth discuss the ways in which the natural changes of menopause can be a time to reflect on desire, expectations and sexual creativity. With good communication, menopause can allow a couple to reflect on their new life stage, and maximise its opportunities.
Beth Wallace is a psychotherapist and applied psychology graduate. She supports adults to create and maintain satisfying intimate relationships with themselves, with others & with life itself through private client sessions with individuals & couples, workshops, online courses, retreats & intensives.
Follow Up
Get Andrew’s NEW free guide to difficult conversations with your partner: How to Tell Your Partner Difficult Things
Take a look at Andrew’s new online course: My Best Relationship Tools
Explore Beth Wallace’s website
Follow Beth Wallace @bethwallacerelationships on Facebook , @drbethwallace on Instagram and Twitter, and on LinkedIn.
You might be interested in some of Andrew’s other interviews:
- Tracey Cox on Great Sex After 50.
- Rachel Weiss on Menopause.
- Fabian Edzard Schneider on Mismatched Levels of Sexual Desire.
Join our Supporters Club to access exclusive behind-the-scenes content, fan requests and the chance to ask Andrew your own questions. Membership starts at just £4.50.
Read Andrew’s new Substack newsletter The Meaningful Life, and join the community there.
Andrew offers regular advice on love, marriage and finding meaning in your life via his social channels. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube @andrewgmarshall
Monday Jan 29, 2024
Monday Jan 29, 2024
If you’ve suffered serious trauma, you may well be feeling confused by the sudden ubiquity of the term. The concept of trauma is having its cultural moment in the sun, and seems to be constantly under discussion on social media.
This week, Andrew speaks to Jeremy Fox, a therapist and trauma specialist, about:
- How to define trauma
- Different types of trauma
- Whether it’s helpful to label your trauma.
- Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) as a trauma treatment.
Jeremy Fox is a licensed mental health therapist, certified professional counseling supervisor, and an EMDR trauma counselor and consultant. He has been published in the Journal of EMDR Practice and Research.
Subscriber Content This Week
If you’re a subscriber to The Meaningful Life (via Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Patreon), this week you’ll be hearing:
- The link between anxiety and trauma
- Three things Jeremy Fox knows to be true.
- AND subscribers also access all of our previous bonus content - a rich trove of insight on love, life and meaning created by Andrew and his interviewees.
Follow Up
Get Andrew’s NEW free guide to difficult conversations with your partner: How to Tell Your Partner Difficult Things
Take a look at Andrew’s new online course: My Best Relationship Tools.
Read Jeremy Fox’s Substack newsletter
Follow Jeremy Fox on LinkedIn
You might be interested in Andrew’s other episodes on trauma:
- Galit Atlas on Buried Trauma
- Fenella Hansen on Dealing With Trauma
- Julia Paulette Hollenbery on Seven Medicines for Healing from Trauma.
Join our Supporters Club to access exclusive behind-the-scenes content, fan requests and the chance to ask Andrew your own questions. Membership starts at just £4.50.
Read Andrew’s new Substack newsletter The Meaningful Life, and join the community there https://bit.ly/TheMeaningfulLifeSubstack
Andrew offers regular advice on love, marriage and finding meaning in your life via his social channels. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube @andrewgmarshall
Thursday Jan 25, 2024
Thursday Jan 25, 2024
I’m excited to launch my new online course for couples: My Best Relationship Tools. This week, I talk with my friend and podcast engineer, Michael Dooney, about how the course can make a difference in your relationship.
We discuss:
- Why couples struggle to communicate
- How to stop using failing strategies
- New ways of approaching conflict
- How to listen, build rapport and make certain both of you feel heard
- Healing your relationship.
Follow Up
Find out more about my course: My Best Relationship Tools.
Get my free guide to difficult conversations with your partner: How to Tell Your Partner Difficult Things
Monday Jan 22, 2024
Monday Jan 22, 2024
Each and every one of us is awesome in some way - but, we are also human. Author, speaker and entrepreneur Nataly Kogan wrote her Awesome Human Journal to help people learn to honour their humanity, whilst also strengthening their emotional fitness.
In this episode, Andrew and Nataly discuss how to:
- Edit your thoughts and quiet your inner critic
- Say “no” to things that drain your energy
- Make joy a priority without guilt
- Reduce overwhelm and fuel your motivation
- Talk back to your brain when it holds you back with fear
Nataly Kogan is an entrepreneur, speaker, and author. She immigrated to the US as a refugee from the former Soviet Union when she was 13 years old. Starting her life in the projects and on welfare, she went on to reach the highest levels of corporate success at companies like McKinsey & Company and Microsoft. When she still found herself unfulfilled, Nataly set out to discover what really leads to a fulfilling, happier life. Her explorations led her to create Happier, a company whose award-winning mobile application, online courses, and “Happier at Work” training programs have helped more than a million people improve their emotional health. Nataly is a sought-after keynote speaker and has appeared in hundreds of media outlets, including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, TEDxBoston, SXSW, The Harvard Women’s Leadership Conference, and The Dr. Oz Show.
Subscriber Content This Week
If you’re a subscriber to The Meaningful Life (via Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Patreon), this week you’ll be hearing:
- Refilling Your Energy Reservoir
- Three Things Nataly Kogan knows to be true.
- AND subscribers also access all of our previous bonus content - a rich trove of insight on love, life and meaning created by Andrew and his interviewees.
Follow Up
Get Andrew’s NEW free guide to difficult conversations with your partner: How to Tell Your Partner Difficult Things
Read Nataly Kogan’s new book, The Awesome Human Journal
Visit Nataly Kogan’s website and take a look at her Unleash Your Thriving coaching programme.
Follow Nataly Kogan @natalykogan on Instagram and Twitter, and @natalykoganauthor on Facebook and @HappierwithNataly on YouTube.
You might also enjoy Andrew’s interviews with Richard Paterson on No More Overthinking and Henry Emmons on The Road to Calm and Joy.
Join our Supporters Club to access exclusive behind-the-scenes content, fan requests and the chance to ask Andrew your own questions. Membership starts at just £4.50.
Read Andrew’s new Substack newsletter The Meaningful Life, and join the community there.
Andrew offers regular advice on love, marriage and finding meaning in your life via his social channels. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube @andrewgmarshall
Monday Jan 15, 2024
Monday Jan 15, 2024
Hopes, dreams and goals stretch far into the future, but intentions are about the present. Setting intentions means translating your goals into small steps you can achieve right now. Intentionality offers you a roadmap for progress and personal growth.
In this episode Andrew talks with therapist Erin Vandermore about what it means to set intentions, how to set up intentions that are achievable and positive, and the rewards that come with a regular intention-setting practice.
Erin Vandermore, MA, LCPC, LCMHC, is a licensed therapist, and wellness coach with over 14 years of experience in the fields of mental health and life coaching. As the founder of Age of Uncertainty Coaching, Erin has dedicated her life to helping individuals discover their unique skills and talents—those often overshadowed by self-sabotage. Her empathetic lens, cultivated through her personal journey as a mother, a survivor of pre-eclampsia, and an individual living with dyslexia, ADHD, and anxiety, allows her to connect with her clients on a deeply human level.
Subscriber Content This Week
If you’re a subscriber to The Meaningful Life (via Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Patreon), this week you’ll be hearing:
- How to Deal with Emotional Eating.
- Three Things Erin Vandermore knows to be true.
- AND subscribers also access all of our previous bonus content - a rich trove of insight on love, life and meaning created by Andrew and his interviewees.
Follow Up
Join our Supporters Club to access exclusive behind-the-scenes content, fan requests and the chance to ask Andrew your own questions. Membership starts at just £4.50.
Visit Erin Vandermore’s website and take a look at her online courses.
Follow Erin Vandermore Instagram @aoucoaching, on Facebook @AgeofUncertaintyCoaching, on YouTube @AOU_Coaching_with_Erin and on TikTok @ageofuncertaintycoach.
Get Andrew’s NEW free guide to difficult conversations with your partner: How to Tell Your Partner Difficult Things
Read Andrew’s new Substack newsletter The Meaningful Life, and join the community there.
Andrew offers regular advice on love, marriage and finding meaning in your life via his social channels. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube @andrewgmarshall
Monday Jan 08, 2024
Monday Jan 08, 2024
More than one third of adults suffer from insomnia or some other kind of sleep disorder. Left unaddressed, lack of sleep can lead to debilitated health, lowered resilience, and decreased performance in all aspects of life.
Psychologist, author and spiritual teacher Philip Carr-Gomm’s latest book is The Gift of the Night. The book combines an extensive knowledge of sleep science and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) with techniques drawn from spiritual traditions and insights from the emerging field of psychedelic therapy.
In this episode, Andrew and Philip discuss the sleep difficulties that can come with growing older, reframing your understanding of sleeplessness, and some of the practical techniques that can create a better night’s sleep.
This is Philip Carr-Gomm’s second appearance on The Meaningful Life. Philip is an expert in psychosynthesis, an “awe-inspiring territory that has the power to transform us”. He believes that something magical happens when the worlds of modern psychology and ancient spiritual teachings are brought together. He has studied Druidry extensively and from 1988-2020 was the leader of The Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids. He has a degree in psychology and has trained in psychotherapy, play therapy, Montessori education, yoga nidra, mindfulness meditation and sophrology. Philip recently created an online school, The Art of Living Well, to offer courses combining psychological and spiritual understanding.
Subscriber Content This Week
If you’re a subscriber to The Meaningful Life (via Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Patreon), this week you’ll be hearing:
- Unhelpful Myths About Sleep.
- Three Things Philip Carr-Gomm knows to be true.
- AND subscribers also access all of our previous bonus content - a rich trove of insight on love, life and meaning created by Andrew and his interviewees.
Follow Up
Download Andrew's new FREE guide: How to Tell Your Partner Difficult Things.
Read Philip Carr-Gomm’s new book, The Gift of the Night: A Six-Step Program for Better Sleep.
Listen to Philip Carr-Gomm’s 2021 interview with Andrew on Creating an Authentic Life
Take a look at Philip Carr-Gomm’s website
Find out more about the courses offered at Philip’s online school, The Art of Living Well
Follow Philip on Instagram at @philipcarrgomm and on Facebook at @philip.carrgomm
Read Andrew’s new Substack newsletter The Meaningful Life, and join the community there.
Join our Supporters Club to access exclusive behind-the-scenes content, fan requests and the chance to ask Andrew your own questions. Membership starts at just £4.50.
Andrew offers regular advice on love, marriage and finding meaning in your life via his social channels. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube @andrewgmarshall