The Meaningful Life with Andrew G. Marshall

Half of all women have experienced pain during sex. Yet the subject remains taboo, and help and understanding from the medical profession can be very hard to find.  In this week’s episode Fran Bushe, author of My Broken Vagina, shares her funny, moving quest to fix her sex life (and yours). During her journey toward understanding vaginismus, Fran was advised by doctors to have a glass of wine to loosen up, male friends suggested she just hadn’t tried the right penis yet, and she even visited a Sex Camp.  Andrew and Fran discuss how understanding the vagina better can enhance sex lives for women and men. They also talk about how to overcome pain during sex, move past the idea of penetration as “real sex”, and find a deeper level of pleasure for both of you.  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 Fran Bushe’s book My Broken Vagina: One Woman’s Quest to Fix her Sex Life, and Yours Get tickets for Fran’s one woman show Ad Libido at the Soho Theatre in August/September 2021. Follow Fran on Twitter and Instagram @franbushe Find out more about vaginismus from The Vaginismus Network Read Andrew’s blog Three Secrets of a Happy Relationship Read Andrew’s book Have the Sex You Want: a Couple’s Guide to Getting the Spark Back 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 

Diet culture is everywhere: it’s impossible to avoid exposure to “clean eating”, fat phobia and the thin ideal. Yet as Kate Daigle tells Andrew this week, it’s not possible to live a meaningful life whilst being fully immersed in diet culture. These are limiting beliefs that shrink people’s worlds. In this episode Kate Daigle, a specialist in supporting people to recover from eating disorders, talks with Andrew about people’s increasingly unhealthy relationship with food. Kate also shares her personal journey of recovery from eating disorders, and explores what it means to have an eating disorder. An eating disorder can be a constant, “reliable” companion, offering relief and a high similar to other addictions. Eating disorders are also likely to point to an underlying attachment wound.  Kate Daigle is a Certified Eating Disorder Specialist (CEDS) and a Licensed Professional Counselor. She is also a speaker and published author supporting people in recovery from eating disorders and body image issues from a Health at Every Size (HAES) perspective.   Kate is based in Denver, Colorado and has been in private practice since 2010. In addition to her professional work, Kate volunteers in her local community to raise awareness about the prevalence and treatment of eating disorders and works to reduce the shame and stigma that are often associated with these disorders. 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 Kate Daigle’s book The Clinical Guide to Fertility, Motherhood and Eating Disorders: From Shame to Self Acceptance Visit Kate’s website and read her blog  Follow Kate on Facebook @KateDaigleCounseling and Instagram @katedaiglecounseling Read Andrew’s blog “How to Heal from Trauma: Six Key Ways to Deal With Trauma” Read Andrew’s book on making meaningful change in your life 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 

We spend a lot of time feeling very serious about seeking meaning in our lives; but is it possible that the secret lies in making the search more fun? Can we say a creative, mutually affirming “yes” more often? And when do we need a self-protective “no”? This week Andrew and improv comedy star Pippa Evans have lots of fun together as they compare the strategies of improvisational comedy with those of therapy. Perhaps the most interesting lesson from improv: “be in the moment that is, not the one you thought would come along”.  Pippa Evans is a comedian and writer known for her skills in improvisational comedy. She was a core member of the improv team behind the award-winning stage show Showstopper: The Improvised Musical which toured the UK and abroad, and has regularly appeared on BBC radio.  Pippa likes to “use jokes to find connection”, and teaches courses on improvisation and the ways it can help improve our relationships with ourselves and with others. She has recently written a book called Improv Your Life: An Improviser’s Guide To Working With Whatever Life Throws At You. Among her many other accomplishments, Pippa is also the co-founder of the Sunday Assembly, a church for non-believers.  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 Pippa Evans’ new book Improv Your Life: An Improviser’s Guide to Working With Whatever Life Throws At You Take a look at Pippa’s website  Find out more about the Sunday Assembly, a church for non-believers co-founded by Pippa and fellow comedian Sanderson Jones. Follow Pippa on Twitter and Instagram @IAmPippaEvans Get Andrew’s book on rejuvenating your relationship when you feel you’ve lost the spark: Can We Start Again Please? Twenty Questions to Fall Back in Love  Read Andrew’s advice on building a happy relationship with your partner: Three Secrets of a Happy Relationship https://andrewgmarshall.com/three-secrets-of-a-happy-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 

Men with sex or pornography addictions and problematic sexual behaviours need support to find the root of their pain. Eddie Capparucci helps these men find and listen to their inner child, and to figure out why that child is creating pain and upheaval in their lives. Eddie is a therapist certified in the treatment of sexual and pornography addiction. He and his wife, Teri, have a private practice working with men struggling with sex/porn addiction, as well as with their wives who are dealing with betrayal. Among his many clients, Eddie has worked with professional athletes including NFL and MLB players and television personalities. This week Andrew, Eddie and Teri discuss finding and speaking to your inner child, and the power of this process to heal relationships and restore hope.  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. Take a look at Eddie Capparucci’s Inner Child Recovery Process on his website. Find out about Eddie’s online community for those recovering from sex/porn addiction:  www.GoingDeeper.co  Follow Eddie on Twitter @ECapparucci Read Andrew’s books on infidelity recovery: Why Did I Ever Cheat? Help Your Partner (and Yourself) Recover From Your Affair How Can I Ever Trust You Again? Infidelity: From Discovery to Recovery in Seven Steps I Can’t Get Over My Partner’s Affair: 50 Questions About Recovering from Extreme Betrayal and the Long-Term Impact of Infidelity 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 

The hard truth is that if you don’t allow yourself to fail, you won’t live a full life. Giles Paley-Phillips sees failure as a fascinating moment of opportunity. Failure offers the chance to take stock, re-evaluate, dust yourself down and give things another try.  Giles has a book and a podcast, both titled Blank, in which he asks highly successful people to share their experiences of going completely blank. According to Giles, it might be frightening, but “blank is a very creative place to start”. In this episode, Andrew and Giles explore what it means to allow yourself to fail in life and in your relationships, why failure must not be the end of your journey and how to go about picking yourself up when things go wrong. Giles Paley-Phillips is an author for children and adults, as well as a podcast host and producer. 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. Listen to the Blank podcast with Giles Paley-Phillips and Jim Daly. Read Blank:Why it's fine to falter and fail, and how to pick yourself up again by Giles Paley-Phillips. Read Giles’ short verse novel One Hundred and Fifty-Two Days. Follow Giles on Twitter @eliistender10 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. Read Andrew’s blog on how to start keeping a journal, in which you can reflect on failure and growth. 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 

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. 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.  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  Watch videos on Venus O’Hara’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/venusohara/about  Go to Venus O’Hara’s website and membership programme: https://venusohara.org  Follow Venus on Twitter @venusohara1111 and Instagram @venusohara  Take a look at the Pro 2 sex toy by Satisfyer: https://www.satisfyer.com/es/en/products/air-pulse-technology/air-pulse-stimulators/2/pro-2 Read Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30186948-think-and-grow-rich  Read Andrew’s book Have the Sex You Want: A Couple’s Guide to Getting Back the Spark: https://andrewgmarshall.com/book/have-the-sex-you-want-a-couples-guide-to-getting-back-the-spark/ Read Andrew’s blog How To Have the Sex You Want: https://andrewgmarshall.com/have-the-sex-you-want-frequently-asked-questions/  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 

Who is your favourite literary character? According to Dr Josh Cohen, an academic working in literary theory and also a psychoanalyst, this can be a very important question. Josh Cohen’s new book is How to Live. What To Do: In search of ourselves in life and literature. He believes that there are major similarities between psychoanalysis and great literature. For one thing, neither offers simple answers to complex questions.  With books, you have the opportunity to see the world through the eyes of someone else, understand what makes them click and why they do what they do. With analysis, which is generally over several years, you do something similar with your unconscious, and come to understand yourself better. In this episode Josh and Andrew discuss the books that have stayed with them throughout their lives. They also touch on the essential quality of imagination in childhood, and why we all need to “be more Alice”.  Josh Cohen is a professor of modern literary theory at Goldsmiths, University of London, and a psychoanalyst in private practice. He is the author of many books on aspects of modern life. 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 Josh Cohen’s new book How to Live. What To Do: In search of ourselves in life and literature  Read Josh Cohen’s book Not Working: Why We Have To Stop  Read Andrew’s book reviews on Goodreads Get Andrew’s advice on creating 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 

“Think globally, act joyfully” is Isabel Losada’s motto. Her most recent book is The Joyful Environmentalist, which shows how one person can make a huge difference to the health of the planet. Few of us these days are strangers to climate anxiety, and Isabel’s approach is the ideal medicine: her aim is to show her reader every single way that we can take care of our natural environment: how we live and work, travel, shop, eat, drink, dress, vote, play, volunteer, bank - everything Isabel Losada is a British author, journalist and public speaker who combines humour with a serious look at her subject matter. She has worked as an actress, broadcaster and public speaker as well as a comedian and author.  Isabel  remains firmly committed to narrative non-fiction & swimming against the tide. 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 The Joyful Environmentalist Take a look at Isabel Losada’s website Explore Isabel’s other narrative non-fiction Follow Isabel on Twitter Facebook and Pinterest @IsabelLosada and on Instagram @isabeljmlosada 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 

“Midlife is when those dreams we had when we were young but put aside to earn a living or raise a family can finally be revisited; it’s never too late to be what you wanted to be”.  This is the philosophy of Noon, a community for women in midlife created by Eleanor Mills. Eleanor experienced her own reckoning with midlife after leaving her job with the Sunday Times, confronting an empty nest and dealing with Covid. She embarked on a journey to explore new ways of living and find her “next act”. If you’re feeling lost or alone after decades of putting other people first, or are exhausted dealing with midlife stresses like divorce, bereavement, redundancy, difficult teens, elderly parents or health problems, then this is the episode for you.  Eleanor and Andrew discuss shifting your perspective on midlife and seeing it as a space without a map. Unlike your twenties, thirties and even forties, there are few expectations around family and career, meaning you can chart your own way and be what you’ve always wanted to be.  Eleanor Mills is a British journalist who has worked for titles including The Sunday Times and The Times. She was the editorial director of The Sunday Times and editor of its magazine until March 2020. Eleanor is also the founder of https://www.noon.org.uk and  inherspace.co.uk  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  Visit the Noon website and community created by Eleanor Mills: https://www.noon.org.uk/about/  Follow Eleanor on Twitter @EleanorMills, on Instagram @eleanorkjmills and on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/eleanor-mills-88a8a827/  Find out more about Claire Du Bois and her Tree Sisters organisation: https://treesisters.org  Take a look at Jarvis Smith’s business My Green Pod https://www.mygreenpod.com  Read Raynor Winn’s book The Salt Path: https://bit.ly/3d7af1S  Listen to Andrew’s interview with Kay Hutchison, author of My Life In 37 Therapies: https://bit.ly/3zUMLa3  Read Andrew’s advice on keeping a journal of your life and emotions at https://andrewgmarshall.com/top-twelve-benefits-of-journaling/  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: https://andrewgmarshall.com/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 

So many of us have experienced depression, and if not, we’re likely to have seen the people we love battle it. This week’s guest, Kate Lucey, specialises in writing about mental health. She talks candidly with Andrew  about her own depression and the six-year journey she’s been on since her diagnosis: including physical symptoms and the effects on her personal relationships.  Kate and Andrew also take a deep dive into what depression means - what might cause it, how therapy can help, and some exercises that have helped Kate to manage when feeling overwhelmed.  Kate Lucey is an author, journalist and public speaker, who has been at the forefront of opening up the conversation about mental health. Kate also specialises in helping brands talk to millennials. Her most recent book is Get a Grip, Love: and Other Helpful Mental Health Advice  “a candid book that uses a mix of colloquial chat, peer and personal experience, and expert advice to talk about tackling mental illness as part of the generation so often poked fun at for having feelings – and who often call themselves out for it, too”. 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 Kate Lucey’s book Get A Grip Love  Follow Kate on Twitter @KateLucey_  Read The Wisdom of Depression by Jonathan Zeuss Read Swamplands of the Soul by James Hollis Read Andrew’s blog “How to Heal from Trauma: Six Key Ways to Deal With Trauma” Read Andrew’s book on making meaningful change in your life 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