The Meaningful Life with Andrew G. Marshall

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? In this classic reissued episode, author and therapist MALCOLM STERN joins Andrew to discuss his book Slay Your Dragons With Compassion. Malcolm and Andrew talk about confronting your fears and working through blocks in a way that is compassionate to yourself and others. Malcolm Stern is a psychotherapist with over thirty years of experience in the therapy room. His book is the result of his professional experience, but also of working through personal tragedy: his daughter Melissa took her own life in 2014, leading Malcolm to question every aspect of his work and life. 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 the Spell You’re Under Three Things Malcolm Stern 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 Attend Andrew's new men's retreat, Reconnect With Yourself, this autumn in the Brandenberg countryside near Berlin  Get Andrew’s free guide to difficult conversations with your partner: How to Tell Your Partner Difficult Things  Read Malcolm Stern’s book Slay Your Dragons With Compassion: Ten Ways to Thrive Even When It Feels Impossible.  Visit Malcolm Stern’s website  Take a look at Andrew’s new online relationship course: My Best Relationship Tools  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   

SHADOW is a Jungian concept that refers to those traits we have suppressed in ourselves that may be waiting to find expression in our lives. This week Connie Zweig PhD returns to the podcast to talk about shadow-work for conscious relationships.  We explore: How the unconscious erupts in our lives and sabotages our relationships Why we can become caught up in repetitive arguments, criticism, distancing, projections, or addictions. How the shadow forms in childhood and how to detect it when it emerges Making a conscious relationship to the shadow, and choosing different outcomes. Connie Zweig, Ph.D., is a retired psychotherapist, writer, and Climate Reality Leader. Known as the Shadow Expert, she has written several books about shadow-work, including  Meeting the Shadow: The Hidden Power of the Dark Side of Human Nature and Romancing the Shadow: A Guide to Soul Work for a Vital, Authentic Life, both of which have recently been reissued.  Connie has been doing contemplative practices for more than 50 years, and is a wife, stepmother and grandmother.  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: Psychology of Evil Three Things Connie Zweig 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 Attend Andrew's new men's retreat, Reconnect With Yourself, this autumn in the Brandenberg countryside near Berlin  Get Andrew’s free guide to difficult conversations with your partner: How to Tell Your Partner Difficult Things  Read Connie Zweig’s books: Meeting the Shadow: The Hidden Power of the Dark Side of Human Nature Romancing the Shadow: A Guide to Soul Work for a Vital, Authentic Life The Inner Work of Age: Shifting from Role to Soul Meeting the Shadow on the Spiritual Path: The Dance of Darkness and Light in Our Search for Awakening Explore Connie Zweig’s Substack, Shadow Work to Expand Awareness  Listen to Connie Zweig’s podcast with her husband, Dr Neil’s Spiritual Awakening to Non-Duality Visit Connie Zweig’s website https://conniezweig.com  Follow  Connie Zweig on Twitter @InnerWorkofAge and on Facebook at @Dr.ConnieZweig Take a look at Andrew’s new online relationship course: My Best Relationship Tools  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 

We all know that good boundaries are 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? In this week’s classic reissued episode, Andrew talks about boundaries with Graham Johnston and Matt Wotton from the London Centre of Applied Psychology. Matt and Graham share their own experiences of creating boundaries in both love and parenting, and what it means if we are struggling to get this right. Our ability to set boundaries is linked closely to our attachment style: those with an anxious attachment may allow their boundaries to crumble too easily; while those with an avoidant attachment can have so many rigid boundaries that they struggle to let anyone in. Andrew also shares a prayer for good boundaries, which he often uses with marital therapy clients: 'I am me and You are you. It's a miracle that we've found each other But I'm responsible for my stuff And you're responsible for yours' Graham Johnston is a psychotherapist and educator. He is Director of Policy at The Bowlby Centre, the UK’s leading training institution in attachment-based psychotherapy, and has also worked for the UK Government, specialising in home affairs. He and Matt Wotton are the Co-Founders and Directors of LCAP.  Matt Wotton is a psychotherapist and executive coach, and also Chair of The Bowlby Centre and Director at LCAP. Matt has over two decades of experience in forensic mental health in the criminal justice system - in operations, coaching leaders, and advising ministers. He led the review of Race in the Criminal Justice System (The Lammy Review), commissioned by the Prime Minister, and has been a member of the Prison & Probation Board.  Follow Up Attend Andrew's new men's retreat, Reconnect With Yourself, this autumn in the Brandenberg countryside near Berlin  Get Andrew’s free guide to difficult conversations with your partner: How to Tell Your Partner Difficult Things  Learn more about the London Centre for Applied Psychology (LCAP), where Graham Johnston and Matt Wotton work as Directors.  Learn more about The Bowlby Centre,  the UK’s leading training institution in attachment-based psychotherapy.  Follow LCAP on Twitter and Facebook @LCAPsychology. Read The Mindful Athlete by George Munford.  Read the poem “On Marriage” by Kahlil Gibran.  Take a look at Andrew’s new online relationship course: My Best Relationship Tools  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   

There are people in our lives who mesmerise but at the same time diminish and damage us. They excite us about the possibilities life holds, while teaching us that we are not worthy of achieving them. Their impact can be so great that for years after we continue trying to replicate the intensity of our time with them, seeing everything through our monster’s lens.  Psychotherapist and author Charlotte Fox Weber joins me this week to discuss SACRED MONSTERS - the people we encounter in love, friendship or work whose devastating charisma may shape us for years after they depart.  We cover: Charlotte’s personal experiences with sacred monsters Scapegoats in family and society, and how they can also be understood as sacred monsters The trickster archetype as sacred monster The “perverse imp” inside us that can render us vulnerable to monsters.  Charlotte Fox Weber is a psychotherapist, author and the founding head of The School of Life Psychotherapy. Her latest book, Sacred Monsters will be available in 2026.  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: Maternal Monsters Three Things Charlotte Fox Weber 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 Attend Andrew's new men's retreat, Reconnect With Yourself, this autumn in the Brandenberg countryside near Berlin  Get Andrew’s free guide to difficult conversations with your partner: How to Tell Your Partner Difficult Things  Learn more about Charlotte Fox Weber’s book Sacred Monsters, available 2026  Read Charlotte Fox Weber’s book, Tell Me What You Want: A Therapist and Her Clients Explore Our 12 Deepest Desires.  Follow Charlotte Fox Weber on Instagram @charlottefoxweberpsychotherapy Take a look at Andrew’s new online relationship course: My Best Relationship Tools  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   

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 the synergy of mind, body and spirit. In this classic reissued episode Andrew and William discuss 🏃🏾‍♂️How a good walk is different from a good run 🏃🏽‍♀️The practice of “asking your run/walk a question” 🏃🏻What the way someone walks can tell us about them.  William also tackles a particularly thorny reader’s letter about what to do if you find that your smartphone use is taking over your life and spoiling your relationships. 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: ⭐ Running to improve your anger management ⭐ Three things William Pullen 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 Attend Andrew's new men's retreat, Reconnect With Yourself, this autumn in the Brandenberg countryside near Berlin  Get Andrew’s free guide to difficult conversations with your partner: How to Tell Your Partner Difficult Things  Buy William Pullen’s book Run for Your Life: Mindful Running for a Happy Life Visit William Pullen’s website  Watch William Pullen’s TEDx talk “Movement is Medicine” Follow William Pullen on Instagram @dynamicrunningtherapy and on Twitter @pullentherapy Take a look at Andrew’s new online relationship course: My Best Relationship Tools 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 

There’s no one set of rules that will see us through. Psychologist and author PROFESSOR ROSS G. WHITE works instead on the concept of psychological flexibility. If we have flexible habits and mindset, we can navigate life’s inevitable storms with at least a degree of strength and grace.  Ross believes that just as martial arts like jiu-jitsu train students to be grounded and focused, we can also train the mind to be agile and flexible; able to roll with the punches whilst staying true to core values.  Andrew and Ross discuss: How to embrace emotional turbulence, and turn fear, frustration or anxiety into opportunities for growth and learning. Facing uncertainty with confidence and purpose.  Why we are easily defeated by rigid routines, and how to embrace flexibility in habits and mindset instead.  Practical techniques to build mental agility.  Professor Ross G. White is an award-winning clinical psychologist who specializes in supporting the mental health and wellbeing of adults working in high-performance environments. This includes elite-level athletes in rugby, football, athletics and tennis. He is also an expert in global mental health and has conducted research in collaborations with the World Health Organization and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees on interventions for reducing distress experienced by refugees in the aftermath of humanitarian crises. He is currently Professor of Clinical Psychology at Queen's University Belfast, and is a director of Strive2Thrive, a training and consultancy. 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: Don’t Burden Your Children with your Unlived Life.  Three Things Ross G. White 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 Attend Andrew's new men's retreat, Reconnect With Yourself, this autumn in the Brandenberg countryside near Berlin.  Get Andrew’s free guide to difficult conversations with your partner: How to Tell Your Partner Difficult Things  Read Ross G. White’s new book, The Tree That Bends: How a Flexible Mind Can Help You Thrive  Visit Ross G. White’s website  In the bonus episode this week Andrew reads from James Hollis’ book, Living an Examined Life: Wisdom for the Second Half of the Journey. You can buy the book HERE.  Take a look at Andrew’s new online relationship course: My Best Relationship Tools  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   

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? In this week’s classic episode, Andrew talks to Jungian analyst ROBERT HOPCKE about synchronicity: the strange coincidences that make us feel like the universe is sending us a message, or trying to turn our lives around.  These coincidences have the potential to help us find the meaning we’re seeking. Synchronistic events can offer a sense of underlying wholeness in our lives. They often happen in times of transition, and help us move to the place we need to be. They offer us the opportunity to recognise the symbolic quality of everyday life, and to be alive to the symbolism that everyday objects, events and people present to us. Robert Hopcke is a Jungian analyst, author and a licensed marital therapist in private practice in Berkeley, California. He is the author of two books on Jung’s concept of synchronicity - There Are No Accidents and There Are No Accidents in Love and Relationships - and a number of other books about Jung.  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: Three Things Robert Hopcke 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 Attend Andrew's new men's retreat, Reconnect With Yourself, this autumn in the Brandenberg countryside near Berlin  Get Andrew’s free guide to difficult conversations with your partner: How to Tell Your Partner Difficult Things  Read Robert Hopcke’s book There Are No Accidents: Synchronicity and the Stories of Our Lives Visit Robert Hopcke’s website  Take a look at Andrew’s new online relationship course: My Best Relationship Tools  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 

Meet Richard Blake, a psychologist and breathwork expert known as The Breath Geek. He illuminates how conscious breathing can drastically enhance mental clarity and emotional healing. Richard shares a simple breathing exercise to alleviate anxiety and explores the importance of connecting the body and mind for overall wellbeing. He also discusses the unique ways men and women experience somatic therapies, and the power of community in managing stress. Tune in for transformative insights that may lead to profound personal breakthroughs.

Venus O’Hara plans to change the world, one orgasm at a time. She believes women are equally as sexual as men, and should have the time and space to embrace their multi-orgasmic potential. Venus is a British orgasm activist, author and feminist based in Barcelona. She has a hugely popular YouTube channel on which she discusses the female orgasm and leading a healthy and authentic orgasmic lifestyle. In this classic reissued episode, Venus and Andrew discuss many aspects of Venus’ journey, including her expertise in fetishism (which Venus sees as an intelligent, imaginative approach to sex, fascinating in its eroticisation of the non-sexual), and her career change from real estate sales to online businesswoman, writer and activist.  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: Three Things Venus O’Hara 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 Attend Andrew's new men's retreat, Reconnect With Yourself, this autumn in the Brandenberg countryside near Berlin.  Get Andrew’s free guide to difficult conversations with your partner: How to Tell Your Partner Difficult Things Watch videos on Venus O’Hara’s YouTube channel Take a look at Venus O’Hara’s website. Follow Venus on Instagram @venusohara  Read Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill.  Read Andrew’s book Have the Sex You Want: A Couple’s Guide to Getting Back the Spark Take a look at Andrew’s new online relationship course: My Best Relationship Tools  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   

Can you criticise your partner without starting a flaming row, or causing them to retreat into a wounded silence? If not, you’re not alone. Many of us struggle for years to find a way to manage relationship conflict in an honest, constructive spirit.  This week, Andrew discusses the secrets of better conflict with relationship coach JACK BOHANNON. Andrew and Jack cover: Attachment theory and how it influences our capacity for constructive conflict.  Better strategies for giving and receiving feedback. The healing power of men’s work.  AND, Andrew participates in a role play exercise designed by Jack.  Jack Bohannan is a certified Somatica relationship coach. He helps clients overcome stuck relationship patterns, insecure attachment, and self-worth issues using somatic techniques. His work is experiential and involves role play, self-disclosure, and genuine conversation. 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 attachment theory can transform your relationship.  Three Things Jack Bohannan 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 Attend Andrew's new men's retreat, Reconnect With Yourself, this autumn in the Brandenberg countryside near Berlin  Get Andrew’s free guide to difficult conversations with your partner: How to Tell Your Partner Difficult Things  Visit Jack Bohannan’s website  Read Jack Bohannan’s writing on Medium Follow Jack Bohannan on Instagram  Take a look at Andrew’s new online relationship course: My Best Relationship Tools  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