The Meaningful Life with Andrew G. Marshall

If you could write a letter to your own anxiety, what would it say? This is just one of the ways therapist Dr Kathleen Smith befriends her anxiety and in the process, moves it into the back seat of her life.  If you can’t sleep, can’t focus and are constantly pushing down the frustrations you experience in your relationships, you will know that you probably need to deal with your anxiety. In this classic reissued episode, Andrew and Kathleen discuss how to go about doing this, and the paramount importance of observing and understanding before leaping into action.  Kathleen Smith is a therapist and author from Washington D.C. She writes the Anxious Overachiever newsletter on Substack, and is the author of Everything Isn’t Terrible, a book about anxiety She is a graduate of Harvard and George Washington Universities, and has written for publications including The New York Times, The Washington Post and  Psychology Today. Kathleen has a private therapy practice in Washington, DC, and is the host of the TV show Family Matters, produced by the University of the District of Columbia.  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 Kathleen Smith 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 free guide to difficult conversations with your partner: How to Tell Your Partner Difficult Things Buy Kathleen Smith’s book Everything Isn’t Terrible: Conquer Your Insecurities, Interrupt Your Anxieties and Finally Calm Down Take a look at Kathleen Smith’s website https://kathleensmith.net  Read Kathleen Smith’s Substack newsletter The Anxious Overachiever  Follow Kathleen Smith on Twitter @fangirltherapy and on Facebook @kathleensmithwrites 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   

With the help of artificial intelligence (AI), we now know almost everything there is to know: except perhaps who we are and actually what matters to us. With notifications pinging and algorithms grabbing our attention, THAT kind of clarity perhaps feels even harder to find.  In this episode, author and entrepreneur SOREN GORDHAMER discusses with Andrew what AI has already changed about the experience of being human, and how we can prepare for an AI-dominated future. Soren and Andrew discuss: Reclaiming your time and attention from digital overwhelm  Truth and storytelling in the age of AI Your lived experience vs AI’s advice.   Soren Gordhamer is founder and host of Wisdom 2.0, which explores living with greater mindfulness, wisdom, and compassion in the modern age. He spent a year walking through parts of the world on an environmental walk, three years teaching meditation to incarcerated teens in NYC, and is an investor in start ups including OpenAI and Anthropic. A partner at Wisdom Ventures, Soren is currently focused on the impact AI will have on our world, and how our society can prepare.  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: Working with what is.  Three things Soren Gordhamer 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 free guide to difficult conversations with your partner: How to Tell Your Partner Difficult Things  Read Soren Gordhamer’s book,  THE ESSENTIAL: Discovering What Really Matters in an Age of Distraction Visit Soren Gordhamer's website: www.sorengordhamer.net Follow Soren Gordhamer on social media: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wisdom2events/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/Wisdom2confraction X: https://x.com/wisdom2conf Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wisdom2conference 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 

“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. In this week's classic reissued episode, clinical psychologist  Dr Ruth Ann Harpur discusses with Andrew the origins of narcissism, the “Echo” phenomenon, and why partners of narcissists need to focus more on their own needs and sense of self.  Dr Ruth Ann Harpur specialises in relationships and issues of narcissism. She qualified as a clinical psychologist in 2009 at the University of East Anglia, and also trained in cognitive behaviour therapy at the Oxford Cognitive Therapy Centre and in schema therapy at the Dutch Institute for Schema Therapy. She has a popular YouTube channel where she offers helpful videos on aspects of relationships and narcissism. If You’re Looking for More…. You can subscribe to The Meaningful Life (via Apple Podcasts or Spotify) 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: ⭐Dating again after a painful break-up ⭐Three things Ruth Ann Harpur 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  Follow Dr Ruth Ann Harpur on YouTube, Instagram, X or TikTok @drruthannharpur  Visit Dr Ruth Ann Harpur’s website, where you’ll find resources for the general public and for therapists on relationships and narcissism Read the poetry of David Whyte, which is discussed in the bonus content this week.  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   

Many of us believe that suffering is inevitable. We endure the inner turmoil associated with stress, shame, depression or loneliness and try to soldier on. Author PETER RALSTON believes, however, that most suffering can be avoided.  In this week’s episode, Andrew and Peter discuss the dynamics of the mind that set the stage for distress and get us into trouble. Peter explains: How mental states of suffering are created How to recognize when you cause them, and  How to stop suffering-inducing thought patterns and beliefs. Peter Ralston is the author of a new book called Ending Unnecessary Suffering: How to Create a Powerful, Complete and Peaceful Life.  He is also a founder of the consciousness movement in the San Francisco Bay area and the creator of the Art of Effortless Power, an internal martial art based on effortlessly effective interaction.  Born in San Francisco but raised primarily in Asia, Peter began studying martial arts at the age of 9 in Singapore. By the age of 28 he had black belts or expertise in almost every martial art there is and was developing his own Art of Effortless Power. In 1978 he became the first non-Asian ever to win the World Championship full-contact martial arts tournament held in the Republic of China. The founder of the Cheng Hsin Center and the author of several previous books, including The Book of Not Knowing, he currently lives outside of San Antonio, Texas. 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 Create Purpose Three Things Peter Ralston 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 Peter Ralston’s new book, Ending Unnecessary Suffering: How to Create a Powerful, Complete and Peaceful Life Learn more about Peter Ralston on his website Follow Peter Ralston on Facebook @OfficialRalston 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   

Most of us have a conversation we’re avoiding: a child coming out to their parent, a family losing someone to terminal illness, a friend noticing early signs of dementia. There are moments when we simply must talk, listen and be there for one another. DR KATHRYN MANNIX, a consultant in palliative care medicine, has spent her career having what she describes as “tender conversations” with bereaved families. Her book, Listen: How to Find the Words for Tender Conversations, is a guide to broaching difficult subjects with those we care about. In this classic reissued episode Andrew and Kathryn discuss why it is we so often don’t say what needs to be said. They look at how to be brave in the face of discomfort, how to sit with silence, and how to speak from a place of gentleness and care.  Dr Kathryn Mannix has spent her medical career working with people who have incurable, advanced illnesses. She is also the author of the bestselling With the End in Mind: How to Live and Die Well. Kathryn is a qualified cognitive behavioural therapist and started the UK’s first CBT clinic for palliative care patients. 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 Kathryn Mannix 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 Dr Kathryn Mannix’s  books: Listen: How to Find the Words for Tender Conversations and With the End in Mind: How to Live and Die Well  Listen to Dr Kathryn Mannix’s previous appearance on this podcast, What You’ve Been Told About Death Might Be Wrong Follow Dr Kathryn Mannix on Twitter and Facebook @drkathrynmannix 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   

At some point in our lives, we all step into the void. Something so big happens that we struggle even to make sense of it.  This week Andrew is in conversation with artist JESSA FAIRBROTHER about finding our way through the pain of these unwanted experiences without getting trapped in repeating loops.  We discuss: How grief over the loss of her parents and experiences of infertility have shaped Jessa’s work as an artist.  Finding value and beauty inside the void. The cultural concept of the happy ending.  The transformative power of art.  Jessa Fairbrother is a British visual artist whose work spans stitch, photography, performance and drawing. The body is her main material. The artist book of her work Conversations with my mother, is held in collections at Tate Britain, the V&A, London and The Museum of Fine Art, Houston. Her companion piece, Role Play (Woman with Cushion) is included in Acts of Creation: On Art and Motherhood, a Hayward Touring exhibition travelling the UK throughout 2024-2025. Jessa became an RWA Academician in 2023. In 2025 she was awarded a DYCP award from ACE to expand her interdisciplinary writing and is authoring her experimental hybrid memoir. She works from her studio in Bristol and the Wye Valley, UK. 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: The Healing Power of Making Things With Your Hands Three Things Jessa Fairbrother 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 Jessa Fairbrother’s website  Follow Jessa Fairbrother on Instagram @jessfairbrother Read “Letting Go of IVF”, by Jessa Fairbrother, on the Wellcome Collection 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   

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