The Meaningful Life with Andrew G. Marshall

What if we’ve gotten meaning all wrong? Perhaps “searching for meaning” is completely the wrong way to think about things. If we can reconceptualise, it may be far easier to build a life suffused with meaning and joy. Dr Eric Maisel has been fascinated by the subject of meaning since he was a small child. This week Andrew and Eric discuss Eric’s new book, which suggests that meaning is just a feeling, and that purpose is a choice. Dr. Eric Maisel is the author of more than 50 books. His interests include creativity, life purpose and meaning; mental health and critical psychology; and parenting in a “mental disorder” age. Dr. Maisel writes the “Rethinking Mental Health” blog for Psychology Today and is a regular contributor to Mad in America, where he founded and edited its parent resources section. Among his favourite things are leading Deep Writing workshops around the world (in places like Paris, London, Rome, Dublin, Prague, New York and San Francisco), working with individual creativity coaching clients, and producing interesting and useful programs (like his Life Purpose Boot Camp Self-Paced Instructor Training).   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 identify your life's purpose in 8 weeks. ⭐️Three things Eric Maisel knows to be true. ⭐️AND you will 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 Eric Maisel’s latest books, including Redesign Your Mind and Unleashing the Artist Within. Visit Dr Eric Maisel’s websites: http://www.ericmaisel.com http://www.ericmaiselsolutions.com http://www.thefutureofmentalhealth.com Follow Dr Eric Maisel on Twitter and Instagram @ericmaisel  You might also enjoy Andrew’s interviews with Nathanael Garrett Novosel on The Meaning of LIfe is Growth or with Richard Lang on Seeing Who You Really Are. 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   

After her 13-year-old son Koby was murdered by terrorists, Sherri Mandell was forced to explore the nature of spiritual resilience in the face of overwhelming grief. In her book The Road to Resilience Sherri outlines seven steps required to face suffering and be enlarged:  Chaos Community Choice Creativity Commemoration (discussed in bonus episode for supporters) Consecration (discussed in bonus episode for supporters) Celebration (discussed in bonus episode for supporters) Andrew and Sherri discuss these seven steps; and also explore the power of creativity to find your inner truth (the subject of Sherri’s latest book, The Kabbalah of Writing).   Sherri Mandell is a prize-winning author, speaker, lecturer and counselor based in Israel. She and her husband are the directors of the Koby Mandell Foundation, which runs healing groups and camps for bereaved families and children. 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 final three Cs: Commemoration, Consecration, Celebration ⭐️Three things Sherri Mandell 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 Sherri Mandell’s books The Kabbalah of Writing and The Road to Resilience  Learn more about Sherri Mandell and the Koby Mandell Foundation https://www.kobymandell.org/  Follow Sherri Mandell on Facebook @SherriMandell You might also enjoy Andrew’s interviews with James Hollis on How to be Resilient and with Niamh Fitzpatrick on Tell Me the Truth About Loss 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 

One of the toughest challenges in a relationship is being able to forge our own individual selves. And it isn’t always something that gets easier over time.  Our ability to create a strong separate self independent of a couple relationship is strongly influenced by how we grew up, and what our relationship with our parents was like. In this episode Andrew talks with psychosexual therapist Juliet Grayson about the question “Do I Have to Give Up Me to Be Loved By You? Juliet Grayson provides extensive training courses and workshops for therapists, including training in attachment informed couple therapy, creative writing in the therapeutic encounter, and the Pesso Boyden system of psychotherapy. Her website hosts many informative webinars, covering numerous topics including shame, death and relationships.  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 feel less guilty. ⭐️Three things Juliet Grayson 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 Juliet Grayson’s book, Landscapes of the Heart . Juliet Grayson has the following websites: www.therapyandcounselling.co.uk https://jandw.thinkific.com/ www.landscapesoftheheart.co.uk www.sexuallyinappropriatebehaviour.org Read some of the books discussed in this episode: Kahlil Gibrain’s The Prophet, Getting to Yes by Roger Fisher and William Ury, Getting Past No by William Ury, The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk. Learn more about the Pesso Boyden method  You might enjoy other episodes on relationship themes; including therapists Michelle Farris on Seven Signs You Might be Co-Dependent and Terry Real on The Five Traps that Undermine Your Love. Read Andrew’s book I Love You But I’m Not in Love With You: Seven Steps to Saving Your 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   

These days “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. This week 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 shares helpful videos on aspects of relationships and narcissism. 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: ⭐️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 Read Andrew’s new Substack newsletter The Meaningful Life, and join the community there. Follow Dr Ruth Ann Harpur on social media:  https://www.youtube.com/@drruthannharpur/videos https://www.instagram.com/drruthannharpur/ https://www.tiktok.com/@drruthannharpur Visit Dr Ruth Ann Harpur’s website, where you’ll find resources for the general public and for therapists, on topics including relationships and narcissism. Read the poetry of David Whyte, which is discussed in the bonus content of this episode. You might enjoy other episodes on relationship themes; including therapists Michelle Farris on Seven Signs You Might be Co-Dependent and Terry Real on The Five Traps that Undermine Your Love. Read Andrew’s book I Love You But I’m Not in Love With You: Seven Steps to Saving Your 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 

How can we have more meaningful, connected sex? Many couples today are stuck in a low-sex or no-sex dynamic, while others struggle to break a routine that feels unbearably dull. In this episode Jan Day, a relationship expert and psycho-spirital teacher,  discusses “Living Tantra”. Andrew and Jan cover how to “resensitise” in a world where there is not enough touch, and too many of us have become desensitised. Coming off autopilot and being open to depth and mystery can lead to a richer connection with the world and with our partners. Jan Day has been teaching and leading workshops in Europe and Hawaii since 1999. Her life and work have been influenced by both Eastern and Western spiritual teachers. She was a sanyassin of Osho for 15 years. Over a period of 20 years Jan trained and then taught with Alan Lowen, founder of _The Art of Being®. The Living Tantra series of workshops that she offers is based on the Body, Heart & Soul®_ series created by Alan. She has also been influenced by and/or worked with Jack Kornfield, David Deida, Ron Kurtz, Ken Wilber, Genpo Roshi, Thomas Hübl and Ammachi. 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: ⭐️Andrew's favourite exercises from Jan's book to try yourself. ⭐️Three things Jan 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 Read Andrew’s new Substack newsletter The Meaningful Life, and join the community there. Read Jan Day’s book Living Tantra: A Journey into Sex, Spirit and Relationship Visit Jan Day’s website to learn more about the courses and workshops she offers. Read Andrew’s book Have the Sex You Want: A Couple’s Guide to Getting the Spark Back You might also enjoy Andrew’s interviews with Dr Cheryl Fraser on How to Stay in Love or with Venus O’Hara on Spiritual Sex. 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   

Anger is one of the main reasons couples seek out the help of a marital therapist. It is an emotion we often fear, and which we are frequently taught to stifle and ignore in ourselves. This week’s guests, Mar Estarellas and Orsolya Szeverics, believe that repressing anger means repressing our authentic emotions. This can lead to muscle tension, physical pain, emotional distress and even depression. We discuss how we can safely release anger, and how our relationship with this most underappreciated of emotions can be healed, leading to many physical and emotional benefits. Mar Estarellas and Orsolya Szeverics run a variety of workshops, including around unlocking the gifts of anger.  Orsolya Szeverics has been experimenting with personal growth practices for nearly a decade, and has forged her own path of supporting people with a key focus on mental and emotional health through creative liberation. Mar Estarellas is a Computational Neuroscience PhD student. As a painter, neuroscientist and nature enthusiast, she is interested in researching the importance of art and Nature in living and dying healthily, for us and the Earth. She also has experience in Kundalini Yoga and the Wim Hof Method.   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 winning and three losing strategies for facing your partner's anger. ⭐️Three things Orshi and Mar know 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 Existential Kink by Carolyn Elliot.  Visit Mar Estarellas & Orsolya Szeverics’ website for more information about their workshops and their work on anger. Learn more about Orsolya Szeverics: https://linktr.ee/orshi  https://www.instagram.com/creative_liberation/  https://dandelion.earth/u/orshi  Learn more about Mar Estarellas: https://linktr.ee/mar_estarellas  https://www.instagram.com/mar.estarellas/  https://dandelion.earth/u/mar_estarellas  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   

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? This week author and therapist Malcolm Stern joins Andrew to discuss his new 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 highlights from Malcolm Stern’s book that Andrew knows to be true. ⭐️ 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 Read Andrew’s new Substack newsletter The Meaningful Life, and join the community there. Read Malcolm Stern’s new book Slay Your Dragons With Compassion: Ten Ways to Thrive Even When It Feels Impossible. Visit Malcolm Stern’s website 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 

Everyone has a different divorce experience, but getting divorced is pretty much guaranteed to change your life.  In this episode Samantha Baines, host of the Divorce Social podcast, shares her own experiences of divorce. Andrew and Samantha discuss: ⭐️The shock of divorce (even if you think you’re ready) ⭐️ Making the decision to get a divorce ⭐️ Dealing with what everybody else thinks. ⭐️ The “celebration” stage post-divorce. ⭐️The fun and the not-so-fun stereotypes around divorce (including wearing lots of leopard skin and having an adventurous love life). Samantha Baines is an author, actor and broadcaster based in London. You may recognise her from appearances on ITV's Loose Women, Sky News and Andrew Neil's This Week or acting roles in Netflix’s The Crown, Call the Midwife, Silent Witness and Magic Mike Live (directed by Channing Tatum). She is a regular on BBC radio stations. Samantha is a hearing aid wearer and iis the author of critically acclaimed children's books with deaf main characters. Her latest book (for adults) is Living with Hearing Loss and Deafness: A Guide to Owning It and Loving It. 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 be more positive ⭐️Three things Samantha Baines 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 Samantha Baines’ website Listen to The Divorce Social podcast Order Samantha Baines’ new book Living with Hearing Loss and Deafness: A Guide to Owning It and Loving It. Samantha interviews Andrew for the Divorce Social podcast here Follow Samantha Baines on Instagram, Tiktok, Facebook,  Twitter and YouTube @samanthabaines Follow the Divorce Social on Twitter @DivorcePod Listen to our other episodes on divorce: Daughters of Divorce with Terry Gaspard, and Should I Stay or Should I Go? with Linda Hershman 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 

If you’re restless and irritable, or plagued by headaches or stomach upsets, then anxiety might be an issue. More and more of us are looking for support, and even diagnoses, to help manage anxiety. This week’s guest is Dr Anna Colton, a clinical psychologist, trained actress and TV presenter. Anna works with families, teenagers and couples, but also with performers and lawyers experiencing profound anxiety. Andrew and Anna discuss: ⭐️How our “unlived lives” feed into anxiety. ⭐️How anxiety can be protective. ⭐️The importance of curiosity. ⭐️How adrenaline feels and how to manage it. ⭐️“Catastrophising” and overwhelm. ⭐️The existential angst that can underlie our anxiety.   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: ⭐️Body issues and childhood eating. ⭐️Three things Anna Colton 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 Dr Anna Colton’s website for lots of resources on anxiety. Follow Dr Anna Colton on Instagram and Twitter @drannacolton, on Twitter and on YouTube @drannacolton727 For more on anxiety, listen to Andrew’s interviews with Dr Kathleen Smith on Make Anxiety Your Friend and Dr Wendy Suzuki on The Neuroscientist’s Guide to Anxiety. 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 

Today, the four pale horsemen of war, famine, pestilence and death, have broken into our comfortable lives once again.  As the climate emergency and shortage become normalised, how do we live through crisis after crisis without falling into fear and anxiety on the one hand, or agitated reaction and rage on the other?  Do we face the horsemen, go into denial or settle for the dull throb of numbness? And how do we maintain contact with the heart, with soul, with love and compassion? This week Andrew speaks with award-winning poet, author and teacher William Ayot about: The burdens men carry The healing power of ritual Male loneliness and how men’s groups help Confronting shame and anger As well as his writing and poetry, William Ayot leads workshops and seminars on personal development topics and creates and conducts private rituals and ceremonies.  Andrew will be attending William’s Feb/Mar 2023 workshop on Male Mysteries through Times of Change & Crisis , which is co-hosted with Simon Roe (a previous guest - see  Are You Leading a Life of Quiet Desperation?). William Ayot is also the co-founding director of Olivier Mythodrama and worked around the world for ten years, teaching leadership through story, theatre practice and ritual. He founded NaCOT- The National Centre for the Oral Tradition, and hosts the poetry series On the Border.  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: ⭐️ Creating a daily ritual for a deeper connection to life. ⭐️Three things William Ayot 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  Attend William Ayot and Simon Roe’s upcoming workshop in Feb/Mar 2023, Facing the Four Horsemen: Exploring Male Mysteries through Times of Change & Crisis Visit William Ayot’s website for information on bespoke rituals, poetry etc. Visit William Ayot and Juliet Grayson’s online library of poetry and talks on shame, men’s issues and relationships. Listen to Andrew’s interview with Simon Roe on Are You Leading a Life of Quiet Desperation?  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