The Meaningful Life with Andrew G. Marshall

“Shame is a powerful, universal, mysterious emotion. It can be incredibly painful and destructive AND it is designed to protect you” (Sheila Rubin).  Marriage therapist Sheila Rubin is a leading authority on how to heal the shame that might be holding you back in your relationships and your life. In this interview, Andrew and Sheila discuss how to achieve a deeper understanding of your shame, stop resisting it, and even turn it into an ally.  Sheila Rubin, MA, MFT, RDT/BCT is a Marriage and Family Therapist with a private practice in Berkeley, California. She is the Co-Director of the Center for Healing Shame, a continuing education provider that offers Healing Shame workshops to therapists and other helping professionals. Sheila has developed therapy techniques integrating somatic and expressive processes to work with the all-pervasive shame and trauma that underlie eating disorders, addictions and toxic family dynamics. She is also the co-author (along with her husband, Bret Lyon) of a new book, Embracing Shame.  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: Shame and eating disorders Three things Sheila Rubin 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: https://www.patreon.com/andrewgmarshall  Read Sheila Rubin’s new book, Embracing Shame.  To download a free guidebook, Resilience and Hidden Shame, please visit www.SheilaRubin.com For more information about Sheila’s Healing Shame workshops, please visit www.HealingShame.com.   Read Andrew’s book The Happy Couple’s Handbook: Powerful Life Hacks for a Successful Relationship. 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   

Quitting - jobs, marriages, musical instruments - is often seen as a sign of a weak character. Author and journalist Julia Keller is on a mission to reframe quitting as an act of self-love, which can help us lead more meaningful lives. This week Andrew and Julia discuss why it is that we value perseverance and “grit” so heavily, how to know when enough is enough, and the art of the “quasi-quit”. Julia Keller, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, novelist, playwright, and teacher, is the author of Quitting: A Life Strategy / The Myth of Perseverance and How the New Science of Giving Up Can Set You Free.  Julia earned a Ph.D. at Ohio State University, and has taught at Princeton University, The University of Chicago, and the University of Notre Dame, and was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University. She was the literary critic at The Chicago Tribune for more than a decade before quitting in order to write books. As well as her non-fiction writing Julia is the author of a series of mystery novels, a science fiction series for young adults. 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 ask good questions.  ⭐️Three things Julia Keller 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. Buy Julia Keller’s new book Quitting: A Life Strategy  Visit Julia Keller’s website Follow Julia Keller on Facebook @Julia.Keller.Writer  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 

Most couples grapple with mismatched levels of sexual desire at some point. Some find destructive solutions - pornography, infidelity - but it IS possible to deal with this in a positive way. This week Fabian Edzard Schneider chats with Andrew about the daily self-pleasure routine he is using to fulfil his sexual needs while his wife recuperates from the birth of their second child.  Andrew and Fabian discuss the ways in which men can take responsibility for their own physical and emotional needs, and in doing so create a better life as a strong, loving man of vision and self-understanding. Fabian Edzard Schneider is based in Gottingen, Germany. He specialises in empowering men to lead happier, more self-fulfilling lives. Fabian leads men’s groups that focus on the practical and the physical, rather than on theoretical 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: ⭐️How can men get to know themselves better? ⭐️Three things Fabian Edzard Schneider 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: https://www.patreon.com/andrewgmarshall  Fabian Edzard Schneider runs an in-person and online training programme for men called MenEncounter. The training focuses on masculine identity, self-empowerment, vision, and implementation of heart-driven projects as well as sexuality and relationship. Take a look here: https://fabianedzard.com/start/  You might also enjoy Andrew’s interviews with Venus O’Hara on Spiritual Sex, with Silva Neves on How to Heal Compulsive Sexual Behaviour, or with Irene Fehr on Why Desire Disappears.  Get Andrew’s advice on building a stronger relationship in his book The Happy Couple’s Handbook: Powerful Life Hacks for a Successful Relationship.  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   

Dr Susan Heitler explores win-win problem-solving in relationships, emphasizing understanding emotions in conflicts. The episode discusses overcoming disagreements, childhood patterns, and effective communication strategies for couples.

If you wanted children but weren’t able to have them, you are tasked with making peace with a life you didn’t choose. This grieving process occurs inside a culture that often has little respect for the childless.  In this episode, Andrew speaks with psychotherapist Jody Day about grief, how ageing is different if you are not a parent, and how to find meaning, purpose and identity in what can feel like a very negative social context.  Jody Day is the British founder of Gateway Women, the global support & advocacy network for childless women. She’s the author of what many professionals consider to be the ‘go-to’ book on the topic, Living the Life Unexpected: How to find hope, meaning and a fulfilling future without children.  Jody was chosen as one of the BBC’s 100 Women in 2013 & a UK Digital Woman of the Year in 2021. She is a global thought leader on female involuntary childlessness, a psychotherapist, a 2017 and 2022 TEDx speaker, a founding and former board member at the UK Charity Ageing Without Children and a former Fellow in Social Innovation at Cambridge Judge Business School.  Often referred to as the founder of the ‘childless movement’ and less often, but more memorably as ‘the Beyonce of childlessness', she’s been an Ambassador for World Childless Week since its inception in 2017. After a lifetime in London, she now lives by the sea in West Cork, rural Ireland, where she’s completing a novel (featuring a childless heroine of course!) and nurturing her emerging Gateway Elderwomen project.  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 get your mojo back. ⭐️Three things Jody Day 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: https://www.patreon.com/andrewgmarshall  Details about Jody Day’s book Living the Life Unexpected: How to Find Hope, Meaning and a Fulfilling Future Without Children can be found here and you can download the Introduction and Chapter 1 free, here. There is a live reading group for those working through the book in Jody’s online community.  Visit Gateway Women, the global support & advocacy network for childless women.  Follow Jody Day on Instagram and Twitter @gatewaywomen and on Facebook @GatewayWomenUK.  You might also enjoy Andrew’s interview with author Shani Silver A New Perspective on Being Single Get Andrew’s advice on creating real change in your life and relationships in his 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 

Our “shadow” is made up of the unconscious parts of ourselves that we try to suppress or deny. Acknowledging and understanding shadow can be a powerful path to healing and authenticity.  If we pursue spiritual growth, we will certainly encounter shadow - both our own, and those of our teachers (whose secret desires around money, sex and power can come into play).  In this episode, psychotherapist and author Connie Zweig PhD talks with Andrew about her new book, Meeting the Shadow on the Spiritual Path. Connie shares some of the ways we can heal from bruising encounters with shadow on spiritual journeys, and how we can “recover from loss of faith and move from spiritual naivete to spiritual maturity”.  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 a bestseller about ageing as a spiritual practice, The Inner Work of Age: Shifting from Role to Soul. Connie has been doing contemplative practices for more than 50 years, and is a wife, stepmother and grandmother.  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: ⭐️Projection: how we see our shadow in others. ⭐️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 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 Connie Zweig’s new book Meeting the Shadow on the Spiritual Path: The Dance of Darkness and Light in Our Search for Awakening.  Take a look at Connie Zweig’s other books  Visit Connie Zweig’s website You can email Connie Zweig about the questions raised in this episode at conniezweig@gmail.com Follow  Connie Zweig on Twitter @InnerWorkofAge and on Facebook at @Dr.ConnieZweig Listen to Andrew’s previous interview with Connie Zweig on From Role to Soul: How to Become an Elder Rather than Just Old  Get Andrew’s advice on creating real change in your life and relationships in his 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

How do we fall in love? And do men and women experience this differently? Psychiatrist Dr Paul Dobransky has combined science with the study of real-life case studies, and concludes that we do. Moreover, if we can understand something of how our brains move through the stages of love, we can make better romantic choices and create relationships that last.  Paul Dobransky, M.D., is a psychiatrist and author of The Secret Psychology of How We Fall in Love and The Power of Female Friendship. He works with AI and machine learning models and algorithms for analyzing romance, dating, relationships (human courtship), the development of character maturity and virtues, and the theory of personality. 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: ⭐️ Power imbalances in relationships: How they cause fights. ⭐️Three things Paul Dobransky 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. Buy Dr Dobransky’s books: The Secret Psychology of How We Fall in Love and The Power of Female Friendship.  Read Dr Dobransky’s Substack articles.  Read Dr Dobransky’s articles for Psychology Today You might also be interested in hearing Cheryl Fraser talking with Andrew about How to Stay in Love or with Mairi Macleod about Finding a Good Man in Midlife. Join our Supporters Club on Patreon 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 

Psychotherapist Elaine Carney Gibson discusses family systems theory and the impact of family dynamics on our lives. They explore the significance of family stories and rituals, the importance of clear boundaries, and the challenges of breaking blaming dynamics. They also touch on the effects of sibling's death, creative ways to mark a child leaving home, and navigating marital problems. Bonus content on family secrets and meaningful connections is available for subscribers.

Anxiety can be as contagious as a yawn. People who are feeling more anxious often try to get others to take some of their anxiety from them, and people who are not feeling as anxious naturally resist taking on someone else’s anxiety. In relationships, it’s often the case that one person takes on the role of the anxious person, whilst the other feels responsible for managing their partner’s anxiety. Combine this with damagingly rigid gender roles, and you have a recipe for disconnection. This week Andrew welcomes Dr Avrum Weiss onto the podcast for a second time. Andrew and Avrum discuss “playing hot potato” with anxiety in relationships. Dr Avrum Weiss is a US-based author and psychotherapist specialising in the internal lives of men. His writing and his work with couples help men and women understand each other more deeply and build a stronger connection. 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: ⭐️What is your relationship with change? ⭐️Three things Dr Weiss 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. Buy Dr Avrum Weiss’ book Hidden in Plain Sight: How Men’s Fears of Women Shape Their Intimate Relationships  Andrew and Avrum also discuss Avrum’s book Change Happens: When to Try Harder and When to Stop Read Dr Avrum Weiss’ article in Psychology Today  “Why Some Couples Play Hot Potato With Anxiety”  Find Dr Avrum Weiss’ other books via his website  Follow Dr Avrum Weiss on Facebook @AvrumWeissAuthor and on Twitter @avrum_weiss Read Andrew’s books on relationships and self-development  Listen to Andrew and Dr Avrum Weiss’ previous conversation: Why Men Withdraw When Women Get Angry 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 

Are you allowing your life to be run by “ghosts” - empty narratives, expired beliefs, tired fears, people who should no longer hold sway over your choices? “When the old stories and beliefs that once defined us have played out and grown exhausted,” writes Dr. James Hollis, “our task is to access our inner compass, the promptings of the psyche that help us find our way through the complex thickets of choice.” In this episode world-renowned Jungian analyst Dr James Hollis explores with Andrew the ways in which you can hear and answer a “summons of the soul”, and find your own individual sense of life’s meaning.  Dr. James Hollis is a Washington D.C. based Jungian psychoanalyst and the author of nineteen books; the most recent is A Life of Meaning: Relocating Your Center of Spiritual Gravity Dr Hollis  was Executive Director of the Jung Educational Center in Houston, Texas, for many years and Executive Director of the Jung Society of Washington (JSW) until 2019. He also worked as a Senior Training Analyst for the Inter-Regional Society of Jungian Analysts, as a Director of Training of the Philadelphia Jung Institute, and is Vice-President Emeritus of the Philemon Foundation. 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: ⭐️Relocating your centre of spiritual gravity. ⭐️Three things James Hollis 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 James Hollis’ new book A Life of Meaning: Relocating Your Center of Spiritual Gravity.  Join James Hollis’ September ‘23 poetry course with the Jung Society of Washington:  Mosaic: A Gathering of Poems to Stir the Depths Read Andrew’s review of James Hollis’ book Swamplands of the Soul: New Life in Dismal Places:  Read Andrew’s review of James Hollis’ book Living an Examined Life: Wisdom for the Second Half of the Journey. Read Andrew’s review of James Hollis’ book Living Between Worlds: Finding Personal Resilience in Changing Times: Visit James Hollis’ website: https://jameshollis.net  You might also enjoy Andrew’s interviews with other Jungians, including Lisa Marchiano on Being a Mother, Connie Zweig on How to Become an Elder, Robert Hopcke on Synchronicity and Susan Schwartz on Fathers and Daughters.   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