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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 Aug 21, 2023
Monday Aug 21, 2023
Psychologist and author Renee Mill believes that practical, solutions-focused approaches to anxiety can be as important as deep psychotherapeutic work.
Renee’s career has combined both approaches, and today she helps many of her clients manage anxiety with practical tools designed to “rewire” patterns in the brain that may date back to infancy.
In this episode Renee and Andrew discuss some of these tools, and how they can help you to recognise, analyse and address automatic thoughts and behaviours. They share insights on how anxiety relates to our emotions, relationships and family history.
Renee Mill, who is based in Sydney, is one of Australia’s foremost clinical psychologists. Her books include Anxiety Free, Drug Free and Parenting Without Anger.
If You’re Looking for More….
You can subscribe to The Meaningful Life (via Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Google Podcasts) and hear a bonus mini-episode every week. Or you can join our Supporters Club on Patreon to also access exclusive behind-the-scenes content, fan requests and the chance to ask Andrew your own questions. Membership starts at just £4.50.
This week supporters will hear:
⭐️Parenting myths that make you anxious.
⭐️Three things Renee Mill 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
Read Andrew’s new Substack newsletter The Meaningful Life, and join the community there.
Read Renee Mills’ books: Anxiety Free, Drug Free; Parenting Without Anger; No Sweat Parenting; Anxiety Management Workbook ; and The Anxiety Management Manual for Therapists.
Visit Renee Mill's website.
Read Renee Mill's blog
Follow Renee Mill on Facebook and YouTube @AnxietySolutionsCBT, and on Instagram @anxiety_solutionscbt
You might also be interested in our other episodes on anxiety, including: Make Anxiety Your Friend with Kathleen Smith, How to Sit With Anxiety with Anna Colton, Friedemann Schaub on How to Get Out of Survival Mode, No More Overthinking with Richard Paterson and The Neuroscientist’s Guide to Anxiety with Wendy Suzuki.
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 Aug 14, 2023
Monday Aug 14, 2023
“Stop crying now”, “cheer up”, “what a lovely smile” - these are the kinds of messages most of us hear from infancy. Karla McLaren’s work is all about undoing this learning, and valuing ALL of our emotions. Even though the way you work with emotions can have positive or negative outcomes, the emotions themselves are not good or bad.
In fact, anger, shame or sadness are the bearers of important messages. And according to Karla, they also bring with them the skills and energy you’ll need to cope in each situation.
Karla McLaren, M.Ed. is an award-winning author, educator, workplace consultant, and social science researcher. Her work revalues even the most “negative” emotions and opens startling new pathways into self-awareness, effective communication, and healthy empathy. She is the founder and CEO of Emotion Dynamics Inc.
She is also the author of many books, including The Language of Emotions, The Power of Emotions at Work, and Embracing Anxiety, and she is the developer of the online learning site EmpathyAcademy.org. She is online at karlamclaren.com.
If You’re Looking for More….
You can subscribe to The Meaningful Life (via Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Google Podcasts) and hear a bonus mini-episode every week. Or you can join our Supporters Club on Patreon to also access exclusive behind-the-scenes content, fan requests and the chance to ask Andrew your own questions. Membership starts at just £4.50.
This week supporters will hear:
⭐️ Conscious Complaining
⭐️Three things Karla McLaren 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
Read Andrew’s new Substack newsletter The Meaningful Life, and join the community there.
Read Karla McLaren’s new book The Language of Emotions
Read Karla McLaren’s other books
Visit Karla McLaren’s website
Find out about upcoming courses at the online learning site developed by Karla McLaren, Empathy Academy
Follow Karla McLaren @KarlaMcLarenAuthor on Facebook, @karlamclaren.m.ed on Instagram, @EmotionDynamics on YouTube and on LinkedIn.
You might also be interested in our other episodes, including: Healing Your Lost Inner Child with Robert Jackman, or What Do You Really Want? With Charlotte Fox Weber.
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 Aug 07, 2023
Monday Aug 07, 2023
Filmmaker and Dad Saves America host John Papola is on a mission to celebrate the inspirational force of fatherhood.
Rather than dwelling on the discourse around “toxic masculinity”, John’s work celebrates “the heroic role we play as men” by being present and joyfully involved in children’s lives. Rather than being a burden or an obstacle to self-fulfilment, John sees raising children as exciting and empowering.
John discusses his own fatherhood journey. He describes how the birth of his son made him feel liberated from the pressures of a creative career, and enabled him to take risks he would not otherwise have considered.
John Papola is the CEO and Co-Founder of the nonprofit aspirational content studio Emergent Order Foundation and the host of their hit celeb interview series Dad Saves America. John’s mission through his foundation is to celebrate fatherhood and promote the positive representation of fathers and father figures in popular culture.
If You’re Looking for More….
You can subscribe to The Meaningful Life (via Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Google Podcasts) and hear a bonus mini-episode every week. Or you can join our Supporters Club on Patreon to also access exclusive behind-the-scenes content, fan requests and the chance to ask Andrew your own questions. Membership starts at just £4.50.
This week supporters will hear:
⭐️How stories help us understand ourselves and the world.
⭐️Three things John Papola 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
Read Andrew’s new Substack newsletter The Meaningful Life, and join the community there.
Visit the website of the Emergent Order Foundation, John Papola’s non-profit aspirational content studio.
Watch John Papola’s Dad Saves America series on YouTube.
Watch John Papola’s documentary about Oscar and Bafta winning deaf actor Troy Kotsur and his relationship with his father.
Follow John Papola on Twitter @JohnPapola.
You might also be interested in other episodes on fatherhood: Men, Fathers and Meaning with Joe Horton; Becoming a Father with Jack Underwood; Daughters and Fathers with Susan Schwartz PhD; and Jed Diamond PhD on Your Personal Creation Story.
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 Jul 31, 2023
Monday Jul 31, 2023
How can we find the joy, connection, healing and sense of the miraculous that so many of us crave? For poet and spiritual teacher Clark Strand, the answer lies in writing Haiku.
The ancient Japanese art of Haiku is the only form of poetry in all of world literature that makes nature into a spiritual path. Its message is simple: Haiku teaches us to return to nature by following the seasons—seventeen syllables at a time. By finding a connection to nature in this way, we can find resilience and hope amidst the world’s chaos.
In this episode, Andrew and Clark discuss Clark’s spiritual journey; how to begin a Haiku practice if you’ve never written a poem in your life; and Andrew shares his own experiences of writing a Haiku every day for a year.
Clark Strand has been writing poetry for fifty years and teaching haiku for thirty. He is a former senior editor at Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, and has been Vice President of the Haiku Society of America. He has written for The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and the Washington Post/Newsweek “On Faith” blog. He is the co-founder of Way of the Rose, a growing nonsectarian rosary fellowship open to people of any spiritual background. His latest book is an updated version of his classic book of Haiku, Seeds from a Birch Tree, and he is also the author of Waking Up to the Dark, Waking the Buddha, Meditation Without Gurus and How to Believe in God.
If You’re Looking for More….
You can subscribe to The Meaningful Life (via Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Google Podcasts) and hear a bonus mini-episode every week. Or you can join our Supporters Club on Patreon to also access exclusive behind-the-scenes content, fan requests and the chance to ask Andrew your own questions. Membership starts at just £4.50.
This week supporters will hear:
⭐️How your paleo brain wants to sleep.
⭐️Three things Clark Strand 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
Read Andrew’s new Substack newsletter The Meaningful Life, and join the community there.
Read Clark Strand’s updated classic, Seeds from a Birch Tree
Read Clark Strand’s other books Waking Up to the Dark, Waking the Buddha, Meditation Without Gurus and How to Believe in God.
Study Haiku with Clark Strand.
Read the book by William Elliott mentioned in this episode, Tying Rocks to Clouds: Meetings and Conversations with Wise and Spiritual People
Follow Clark Strand on Instagram and Twitter @clarkstrand
You might also be interested in our other episodes: John McCullough on Seven Ways Poetry Could Make Your Life Richer, Deeper & More Meaningful; and Henry Emmons on The Road to Calm and Joy.
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 Jul 24, 2023
Monday Jul 24, 2023
If you’re living in survival mode, squashing down feelings of anxiety, depression and panic, then something needs to change.
This week Andrew speaks with Dr Friedemann Schaub, a physician, researcher and personal development coach, about our deep-seated emotional baggage, and how to identify the self-sabotaging patterns and limiting beliefs that prevent us from leading productive, fulfilling and balanced lives.
Dr Friedemann Schaub, a doctor with a Ph.D. in molecular biology, left his career in allopathic medicine to pursue his passion of helping people overcome fear and anxiety without medication. For more than twenty years, he has helped thousands of his clients worldwide to break through their mental and emotional blocks and become the empowered leaders of their lives. His newest book The Empowerment Solution, focuses on activating the healing power of the subconscious mind to switch out of stress- and anxiety-driven survival mode and make authenticity and confidence the everyday way of being.
If You’re Looking for More….
You can subscribe to The Meaningful Life (via Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Google Podcasts) and hear a bonus mini-episode every week. Or you can join our Supporters Club on Patreon to also access exclusive behind-the-scenes content, fan requests and the chance to ask Andrew your own questions. Membership starts at just £4.50.
This week supporters will hear:
⭐️How to deal with procrastination.
⭐️Three things Dr Friedemann Schaub 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
Read Andrew’s new Substack newsletter The Meaningful Life, and join the community there https://bit.ly/TheMeaningfulLifeSubstack
Read Dr Friedemann Schaub’s new book, The Empowerment Solution: Six Keys to Unlocking Your Full Potential with the Subconscious Mind
Visit Dr Friedemann Schaub’s website to learn more about his courses on anxiety and empowerment.
Follow Dr Friedemann Schaub on YouTube @Friedemannschaub, on Instagram @dr.friedemannchaub and on Twitter @DrFriedemannS
You might also be interested in our other episodes on anxiety: Make Anxiety Your Friend with Dr Kathleen Smith, and The Neuroscientist’s Guide to Anxiety with Dr Wendy Suzuki.
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 Jul 17, 2023
Monday Jul 17, 2023
Western medicine cannot cure all of our ills. Many of us experience stubborn aches, pains and fatigue that our doctors don’t seem able to touch, or even explain.
Dr Sharon Martin is a highly-trained physician who became frustrated by these limits, and began to explore the capacity of alternative medicine to bring healing and peace.
In this episode Andrew and Sharon discuss our capacity for intuition, the hidden messages in our dreams, and the ways in which shamanic mystery traditions can allow us to step into our full potential.
Dr Sharon Martin is a doctor of internal medicine, and also holds a PhD in physiology. She trained at Johns Hopkins University and other elite medical institutions. Dr Martin expanded her capacity as a healer by training in the shamanic, mystery traditions with Alberto Villoldo, Jean Houston, Carl Greer, Lilydale Assembly, The Cayce Foundation (A.R.E.), Patrice Fields, CC Treadway and others.
Sharon’s new book is Maximize Your Healing Power.
If You’re Looking for More….
You can subscribe to The Meaningful Life (via Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Google Podcasts) and hear a bonus mini-episode every week. Or you can join our Supporters Club on Patreon to also access exclusive behind-the-scenes content, fan requests and the chance to ask Andrew your own questions. Membership starts at just £4.50.
This week supporters will hear:
⭐️How to break bad habits
⭐️Three things Dr Sharon Martin 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
Read Andrew’s new Substack newsletter The Meaningful Life, and join the community there.
Read Dr Sharon Martin’s book Maximize Your Healing Power
Learn about Dr Sharon Martin’s work on her website
Follow Dr Sharon Martin on Twitter and Facebook @sharonmartinmd
Read Andrew’s book Wake Up and Change Your Life: How to Survive a Crisis and be Stronger, Wiser and Happier
You might also enjoy Andrew’s interviews with Martina Schneider on Spiritual Therapy or with Linda Berman on Seven Ways to Become Your Authentic Self.
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 Jul 10, 2023
Monday Jul 10, 2023
We’re often told we’re in the midst of a post-Covid “loneliness epidemic”, but what exactly does that mean? Loneliness is a profound condition that goes right to the heart of being human - it’s certainly more than just being alone, and often it isn’t something that can be addressed by just “getting out more” or volunteering at the local hospital.
This week’s guest Dr Sam Carr became interested in attachment theory, and was then drawn to seek a deeper understanding of people who lacked attachment. He embarked on a study of loneliness that will be shared in his forthcoming book, All the Lonely People.
Andrew and Sam discuss types of loneliness - existential, the loneliness of a difficult relationship, objective vs subjective loneliness - and look at different ways to address it, including the Jungian path of finding solace and direction in our dreams.
If You’re Looking for More….
You can subscribe to The Meaningful Life (via Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Google Podcasts) and hear a bonus mini-episode every week. Or you can join our Supporters Club on Patreon to also access exclusive behind-the-scenes content, fan requests and the chance to ask Andrew your own questions. Membership starts at just £4.50.
This week supporters will hear:
⭐️How internet porn affects romantic life
⭐️Three things Sam Carr 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
Read Andrew’s new Substack newsletter The Meaningful Life, and join the community there.
Sam Carr’s book All the Lonely People can be preordered here.
Read some of Sam Carr’s articles for theconversation.com:
Loneliness, loss and regret: what getting old really feels like – new study
Parenting practices around the world are diverse and not all about attachment
How internet porn affects romantic life
Why mourning a pet can be harder than grieving for a person
Andrew and Sam discuss The Men on My Couch by Brandy Engler. You can find it here.
Andrew also mentions other episodes of this podcast, including How to be Resilient with James Hollis and Being a Mother with Lisa Marchiano.
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 Jul 03, 2023
Monday Jul 03, 2023
It can often seem that today's world rewards people who remain psychologically suspended in adolescence. Many people, particularly men, prolong and enjoy their adolescence for decades.
Conroy Harris, CEO of the charity A Band of Brothers, discovered through his own life experiences that this wasn’t a healthy way to live. He believes that everyone seeks a meaningful identity and a purpose into which to channel the energies of early adulthood.
In this episode Andrew and Conroy discuss the importance of rites of passage and mentoring, and how men can support one another to live authentic lives. Conroy shares some of his own difficult experiences as a young man, including periods of homelessness, and explains how mentoring and service to his community helped him find his way.
If You’re Looking for More….
You can subscribe to The Meaningful Life (via Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Google Podcasts) and hear a bonus mini-episode every week. Or you can join our Supporters Club on Patreon to also access exclusive behind-the-scenes content, fan requests and the chance to ask Andrew your own questions. Membership starts at just £4.50.
This week supporters will hear:
⭐️Where do I fit in?
⭐️Three things Conroy Harris 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
Read Andrew’s new Substack newsletter The Meaningful Life, and join the community there.
Visit the A Band of Brothers website
Follow A Band of Brothers on Facebook @abandofbrothers and on Twitter @band_brothersuk
Read Iron John: a Book About Men by Robert Bly.
Andrew also mentions his interview with Dr Connie Zweig on being an elder, From Role to Soul
Read Andrew’s book Wake Up and Change Your Life: How to Survive a Crisis and be Stronger, Wiser and Happier
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 Jun 26, 2023
Monday Jun 26, 2023
You have needs—your needs matter. And yet, you’ve been taught that pushing your needs to the back burner is the only way to get things done, that your needs are an overwhelming burden, or that self-care is a luxury you can’t afford.
Author, coach and podcaster Mara Glatzel encourages us to “take a seat at the table in our own life”. In this episode Andrew and Mara discuss how to articulate your needs, and how to pursue a more genuine and meaningful form of self-care.
Mara Glatzel is the author of Needy: How to Advocate for Your Needs and Claim Your Sovereignty. She is an intuitive coach, an author, and the host of the Needy podcast. In her coaching work she helps perfectionists, caregivers, and people pleasers take up space in their lives and reclaim their sovereignty through honouring and advocating for their needs.
If You’re Looking for More….
You can subscribe to The Meaningful Life (via Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Google Podcasts) and hear a bonus mini-episode every week. Or you can join our Supporters Club on Patreon to also access exclusive behind-the-scenes content, fan requests and the chance to ask Andrew your own questions. Membership starts at just £4.50.
This week supporters will hear:
⭐️Raising “needy” kids.
⭐️Three things Mara Glatzel 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
Read Andrew’s new Substack newsletter The Meaningful Life, and join the community there.
Read Mara Glatzel’s book Needy: How to Advocate for Your Needs and Claim Your Sovereignty.
Listen to Mara Glatzel’s Needy podcast.
Read Mary Oliver’s poem Wild Geese
Follow Mara Glatzel on Facebook and Instagram @maraglatzel
You might also enjoy Andrew’s interviews with Robert Jackman on Healing Your Lost Inner Child and Paul Gilbert on Compassion and Self-Acceptance.
Read Andrew’s book Wake Up and Change Your Life: How to Survive a Crisis and be Stronger, Wiser and Happier
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 Jun 19, 2023
Monday Jun 19, 2023
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 intrinsic to all things), and what it means to “live in sacredness”.
Ayala Gill is a teacher of meditation, yoga and other spiritual practices. She has taught for 25 years, and guides silent retreats in Europe which include yoga, meditation and ceremony. She is currently writing a book that is provisionally titled Living in Sacredness. Her next guided retreat is in October 2023, at Le Moulin de Chaves, France
If You’re Looking for More….
You can subscribe to The Meaningful Life (via Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Google Podcasts) and hear a bonus mini-episode every week. Or you can join our Supporters Club on Patreon to also access exclusive behind-the-scenes content, fan requests and the chance to ask Andrew your own questions. Membership starts at just £4.50.
This week supporters will hear:
⭐️Turning anger to compassion
⭐️Three things Ayala Gill 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
Read Andrew’s new Substack newsletter The Meaningful Life, and join the community there.
Visit Ayala Gill’s website.
Next week, June 26-30 2023, Ayala will be teaching a week of daily meditations online with Sangha Live from 7-8am UK time (recordings available later the same day).
Learn more about Ayala Gill’s guided silent retreats
Read and/or subscribe to Ayala Gill’s Substack
Follow Ayala Gill on Facebook @ayala.gill
You might also enjoy Andrew’s interviews with Matthew McKay on Loving in the Face of Pain and Paul Gilbert on Compassion and Self-Acceptance.
Read Andrew’s book Wake Up and Change Your Life: How to Survive a Crisis and be Stronger, Wiser and Happier
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