The Meaningful Life with Andrew G. Marshall
Episodes
Paul Attinello: What is Your Relationship with Death and Mortality?
28 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Some of us try our best never to think about death, while some of us “live in death’s basement”. Composer, academic and psychoanalyst Paul Attin...
Terry Real: The Five Traps that Undermine Your Love & One Simple Solution
21 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Is society setting you up to fail in your marriage? World-renowned relationship therapist Terry Real sees a toxic culture of individualism troubling s...
Thom Rutledge: Embracing Fear in Four Steps
14 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Lots of us are afraid of the very word: fear. We’d rather say anxiety, or worry, or panic. Yet according to Thom Rutledge, fear underlies most dif...
Dr Mairi Macleod: Finding a Good Man in Midlife
07 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
“So he’s become the real love of my life. But if I’d been following my old ways of looking for men I wouldn’t have noticed him”. If you’re...
Simon Roe: Are You Leading a Life of Quiet Desperation?
28 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
“The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation” (Henry Thoreau). Therapist Simon Roe has ...
Amanda Seyderhelm: How Can Children and Adults Cope With Childhood Grief?
21 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
How can we help our children understand grief and loss? How can we recover as adults, if no-one helped us make sense of grief and loss as a child? Ama...
Dr. Kathleen Smith: Make Anxiety Your Friend
14 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Shani Silver: A New Perspective on Being Single
07 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
“Don’t look for a match - light one”: being single needs to stop being seen as failure, and start being viewed as a fulfilling, meaningful, lovi...
Julia Paulette Hollenbery: Self Care: Seven Medicines for Healing from Trauma (and Life in General)
31 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Many of us are brought up to see sacrifice and exhaustion as the route to success. Julia Paulette Hollenbery’s mission is to help us all realise tha...
Dr Dilip Jeste: Wisdom: Five Ways to Become Wiser
24 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
What does it mean to be wise? Do we grow in wisdom as we age? Pioneering neuropsychiatric researcher Dr Dilip Jeste has spent years investigating the ...
Helen Tower & Lisa Arends: Infidelity: Lessons from My Recovery
17 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
My guests this week - Lisa Arends and Helen Tower - know just about everything there is to know about the painful subject of infidelity, because they ...
Dr Kathryn Mannix: How to Listen, Really Listen
10 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 ea...
Ten Things We Learned in 2021
03 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
A year’s worth of ideas about living a meaningful life is a lot to digest. Over 2021, we touched on trauma, reimagining death, recovering from infid...
JJ Bola: Men: How to Take the Mask Off
27 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
How often have you heard masculinity described as “toxic”, “fragile”, or “in a crisis”? JJ Bola - writer, former youth worker, and UNHCR A...
Jack Underwood: Becoming a Father: Living with Fear and Uncertainty
20 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Becoming a parent is impossible to prepare for. Jack Underwood describes “feeling that there should have been more paperwork. We signed a form or tw...
Josephine Worseck: Stress Reduction: TheTransformative Power of Cold Exposure
13 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Stepping into a bath of ice isn’t the obvious pastime for a Northern winter. But if you do it the right way, the extreme cold can be: ❄️ Empower...
John LeFebvre: Money and Meaning: Would Your Life be Better if You Were Richer?
06 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
How would your life change if you suddenly had all the money in the world? This was the experience of John Lefebvre, who was catapulted from an ordina...
Cate Mackenzie: Flirting: Why Everyone Should Learn the Skills
29 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Some of us are afraid of it, some of us gave it up decades ago, and some of us are trying desperately to master it. The art of flirting is a form of ...
Kathleen O‘Brien: Growing Old Is The Best Thing That‘s Going To Happen To You
22 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
“You’re only old once” says aging expert and author Kathleen O’Brien, and the wisest path is to embrace the freedom and wisdom of being an eld...
Michelle Farris: Seven Signs You Might Be Codependent
15 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Are you a serial people-pleaser? Do you find all your self-worth at work? Or do you gravitate towards difficult partners, with problems you feel drive...
Silva Neves: How to Heal Compulsive Sexual Behaviours
08 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Have you found the freedom to explore the rich landscape of your erotic self? Or did your childhood leave you feeling restricted and repressed by a se...
Matthew Fray: How Good People Mess Up Their Marriages
01 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Matthew Fray is the author of the viral article “My Wife Divorced Me Because I Left the Dishes By the Sink”. His divorce left him emotionally crus...
John McCullough: Seven Ways Poetry Can Make Your Life Richer, Deeper and More Meaningful
25 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Your last encounter with a poem may well have taken place in a grim classroom, perhaps a painful dissection of WB Yeats or Matthew Arnold. Poetry can...
Viv Groskop: How to be Heard, Really Heard
18 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Many of us, particularly women, experience endless frustration because we don’t feel heard. At work and at home, it seems like we are constantly int...
Graham Johnston & Matt Wotton: Good Boundaries: The Foundation of Happy Relationships
11 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We all know that good boundaries are pretty much essential if we want happy relationships. There is a lot of confusion, though, about what exactly a b...
Tracy McCubbin: Identifying Blocks to Letting Go: How to Declutter Your Life
04 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Is your home environment helping you to live the life you want, or does it get in the way? Clutter - the piles of stuff we don’t need and don’t us...
Robert Hopcke: Synchronicity: Meaningful Coincidences, How to Spot and Use Them To Grow
27 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Have you ever experienced a strange, inexplicable coincidence that left you feeling “like a grand, mysterious character in a story?” One that seem...
Dr. James Hollis: How to Be Resilient
20 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
For Andrew, it is the writings of Dr James Hollis, one of the world’s most eminent Jungian analysts, that have “sustained me through my dark times...
Dr. Warren Farrell: The Boy Crisis: How to Help Your Son Flourish
13 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
According to Dr Warren Farrell, the world is facing a “boy crisis”. Suicide, ADHD and weak educational outcomes are among the problems boys and th...
Oliver Russell: How a Near Death Experience Changed My Life
06 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Are you jogging along, not really noticing how time is passing? Avoiding the big questions by spending hours on distractions that don’t really add m...
Dr. Linda Berman: Seven Ways To Become Your Authentic Self
30 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Have you been told “just be yourself”, only to feel confused about what exactly that means? This week Andrew discusses with Dr Linda Berman seven ...
Fran Bushe: How I Stopped Thinking My Body Was Broken (and Dealt With Vaginismus)
23 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Kate Daigle: Have a Heathier Relationship with Food
16 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Pippa Evans: Harnessing the Power of Yes and No
09 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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?...
Eddie and Teri Capparucci: Betrayal & Sex Addiction - The Road to Recovery Runs Through Your Childhood
02 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Men with sex or pornography addictions and problematic sexual behaviours need support to find the root of their pain. Eddie Capparucci helps these men...
Giles Paley-Phillips: How To Pick Yourself Up When Things Go Wrong
26 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Venus O’Hara: Spiritual Sex
19 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Josh Cohen: How to Live: What You Can Learn From Your Favourite Literary Character
12 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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 v...
Isabel Losada: How to Bring Joy Into Your Life AND Save the Planet
05 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
“Think globally, act joyfully” is Isabel Losada’s motto. Her most recent book is The Joyful Environmentalist, which shows how one person can mak...
Eleanor Mills: How to Re-Invent Yourself at 50 (Or Any Age)
28 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
“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 ...
Kate Lucey: Depression - What Worked for Me
21 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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, spec...
Claire Thomson: Food and How it Makes Life Meaningful
14 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
If the thought of cooking another family dinner is making you tired, this week’s episode might bring joy back to your kitchen. After all, at its bes...
Richard Paterson: No More Overthinking
07 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Do you struggle to sleep, your mind buzzing with worries about the future? Do you compare yourself to others and find yourself always coming up short?...
Kate Moyle: Improving Your Body Image & Your Love Life
31 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
How can we learn to be at ease in our bodies so that we can be fully “in the moment” during sex? Anxiety about body image is one of the biggest ob...
Tara Blair-Ball: Attachment Theory and How to Have Better Connections
24 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Are you one of the many people who end up shocked by the ultimate similarity of romantic relationships that felt very different starting out? Why is i...
Elaine Dundon: Stop Being a Prisoner of Your Thoughts
17 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Are you a prisoner of your own way of thinking about life? If we step back and reframe our thoughts about work, relationships or family, we can find t...
Hannah Martin: How To Believe in Yourself and Start Your Own Business
10 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
So many mothers have found the world of work a hostile environment after they have children. The jobs they once loved just don’t work with babies, s...
Dr. Kathryn Mannix: What You’ve Been Told About Death Might Be Wrong
03 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
How do we live knowing that we will die? How can we face death, and how should we prepare for it? Dr Kathryn Mannix has spent her professional life wo...
Henry Emmons: Bring More Calm and Joy Into Your Life
26 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Too often we treat mind and body as completely separate: fear and anxiety belong to the mind, and then there are physical disorders. In fact, mind and...
John Poehler on Bipolar: How a Daily Plan Can Improve Your Mental Health
19 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A diagnosis of bipolar disorder can be devastating: it is an extremely serious and debilitating mental illness. Family and friends may not understand ...
Philippa Perry: What You Wish Your Parents Knew and What Your Children Hope You Learn
12 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Parents like to feel they are independent individuals making their own decisions, but in reality parenting is hugely influenced by our own experiences...
Michael & Christy: Facing Infertility and finally celebrating the birth of our baby
05 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
As well as producing weekly episodes of The Meaningful Life, our podcast engineer Michael Dooney is a brand new dad. This week, Michael and his wife C...
Lisa Marchiano: Being a Mother: A journey of self-discovery
29 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
It isn’t hard as a parent to find advice on breastfeeding, your child’s education or managing their behaviour. What’s rarer is insight into how ...
Angus Barge: Getting it up: What every man and woman needs to know
22 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The relationship between a man and his penis is rarely discussed except as a joke. Men don’t often talk to each other about erection issues, and wom...
Terry Gaspard: Daughters of Divorce: the long-term impact of a marital breakdown
15 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Our parents’ divorce can have so many ramifications, some of which don’t become apparent until well into adulthood. How do we face up to and under...
Tom Vanderbilt: The Beginners Mind: How to get out of a rut
08 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
When did you last learn to do something totally and utterly new? Tom Vanderbilt, author of Beginners: the Joy and Transformative Power of Lifelong Lea...
Philip Carr-Gomm: Stop Living the Provisional Life and Start Creating an Authentic One.
01 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Are you living a life you really believe in, or are you filling in time until your “real life” begins? Are you waiting on marriage, a better job, ...
Fenella Hansen: Dealing with Trauma
22 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Fenella Hansen brings her own life experiences of grief, loss, mental health and trauma to her counselling work. After losing her mother to cancer, sh...
Caroline Madden: Infidelity: How to Rebuild Trust
15 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We all think of infidelity as something that happens to someone else. When betrayal enters our own safe universe, it comes as a terrible shock. Many c...
Dena Justice: Why Women Burn Out and How to Recover
08 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Dena Justice’s lifelong interest in mentoring and coaching began at age seven, when she took her first social-emotional training program. At 15, she...
Slave Phil: Master Slave Lifestyle
01 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
What is it like to step away from individual freedom and enter into a life of submission and domination? This week’s witness is Slave Phil, a writer...
Chester Elton: How gratitude could revolutionise your life
25 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
What does gratitude actually mean? It isn’t just about being nice or saying thank you a lot. According to Chester Elton, who has been called “the ...
Richard Lang: Seeing who you really are
18 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
You exist at your own centre; so you are the only one who is in the right place to look and understand your individual being. Richard Lang has devoted...
Itoro Bassey: Healing the Mother / Daughter Wound
11 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
How do we find meaning out of a difficult childhood and a troubled mother-daughter relationship? In this episode Nigerian-American writer, mindfulness...
Ten Things I Learnt in 2020
04 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
2020 wasn’t the easiest year to feel in control of our lives: a lot of us experienced loss, loneliness, and illness. Yet through my podcast, I feel ...
Nathanael Garrett Novosel: The Meaning of Life is Growth
28 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Nathanael Garrett Novosel started his quest to understand the meaning of life at the age of six. He is the author of The Meaning of Life: A Guide To F...
Martina Schneider: Spiritual Therapy
21 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Martina Schneider is a psychologist and a teacher of Vipassana meditation. Her work with clients combines a therapeutic and a spiritual approach. In t...
Joe Horton: Men, Fathers and meaning
14 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Joe Horton founded Guild of Dads after losing his own father in 2015. This huge loss launched him on a journey of self-discovery, during which he was ...
Rachel Weiss: Menopause
07 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In 2017, Rachel Weiss watched a TV programme about the menopause and was inspired to hold a Menopause Café. This has now turned into an international...
Tim Dowling: Can cynicism improve your life?
30 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Guardian columnist Tim Dowling has spent thirteen years chronicling his marriage and family life for the Weekend magazine. His self-deprecating humour...
Charlotte Fielder: Dogs and Volunteering, and how they change your life
23 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
So much of the meaning we find in life comes from reaching out to help others. Charlotte Fielder has been the Head of Volunteering and Fostering at Lo...
Anita Cleare: Be a positive parent
16 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Why are so many working parents exhausted? Why does it often feel so unfulfilling switching between a demanding job and doing our best as parents? Ani...
Susie Kahlich: Self Defence and Surviving violent crime
09 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Please note - this episode of The Meaningful Life podcast contains references to gender based violence which may be distressing for some listeners In ...
Jed Diamond: Your Personal Creation Story
02 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Too many men struggle to be happy in their intimate relationships, and fail to find a healthy version of masculinity that works for them. Disconnected...
Finn Ballard: Gender and being a trans man
26 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
What is life like if you don’t fit into any of mainstream society’s ideas of gender or sexuality? Do any of us really fit those ideas, anyway? I...
Kay Hutchison: Coming back from a midlife crisis
26 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Have you ever felt so defeated and frustrated that you want to just throw in the towel and run away? Author Kay Hutchison did exactly that, fleeing he...
Tracey Cox: Great sex after fifty
26 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
No-one would deny sex is important to a meaningful life, but what that looks like changes as we age. In this first episode of the new self-help podcas...
Launching on Monday 26. October 2020 - The Meaningful Life with Andrew G.Marshall
17 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
So what is the meaningful life? Why do we so easily lose our way and get lost in depression, anxiety, doubt, addictions and obsessions: the swamplands...