The Meaningful Life with Andrew G. Marshall

"What are you looking for in a relationship?” It’s something we ask and are asked right at the beginning of a relationship – when we are dating. Perhaps even sitting in a restaurant sharing a first meal together. It comes up again, in the background, when we ask: is this the right person to marry. Do they have the qualities I want? At life review points and perhaps when a marriage is at a sticky point, we return to the same basic question: What do I need to be happy.

So today, I am going to try and answer the BIG question. What do women want, what do men need? Because we THINK we know what our partner really, really wants, but are we listening to what they actually say?

Claudia Loewen is a practitioner in somatic body work and a couple’s coach with a particular interest in helping women rebalance. Ignacio Jarquin is a Men’s Group Leader, a Singing Teacher with an interest in archetypal psychology and how creativity can unlock personal growth.

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 get out of your head and into your body

Three Things Claudia and Ignacio 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

Attend Andrew’s couple’s retreat near Berlin in June 2026 or men's retreat in April 2026: details here

Get Andrew’s free guide to difficult conversations with your partner: How to Tell Your Partner Difficult Things 

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

Author and therapist KATE KING joins Andrew this week to discuss the question of whether to “Mend or Move On”. Kate challenges the assumption that family loyalty and social harmony should come at the expense of personal well-being. Not every connection is worth saving - but how do you know whether your relationship is worth healing, or whether it’s time for an honest goodbye?

Andrew and Kate discuss:

What differentiates a truly toxic relationship from one that is merely misaligned or has expired beyond its purpose. 

Why constructing walls—physical, emotional, and/or energetic barriers that keep people out—actually strengthens relationships.

The critical difference between being needy vs having needs in relationships

The importance of staying curious in healthy relationships. 

Kate King is the author of Mend or Move On: A Guide to Healing or Leaving Toxic Relationships. She trained as a licensed professional counselor, art therapist, and clinical psychotherapist, and now works as a depth and creativity coach offering Radiant Life Coaching. She lives in Colorado in the US, where she offers both in-person and online support for individuals, groups, and audiences of many kinds in various parts of the world.

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:

What is the difference between codependence and interdependence?

Three Things Kate King 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 couple’s retreat near Berlin in June 2026: details here

Get Andrew’s free guide to difficult conversations with your partner: How to Tell Your Partner Difficult Things 

Read Kate King’s book, Mend or Move On: A Guide to Healing or Leaving Toxic Relationships 

Visit Kate King’s website 

Follow Kate King on Instagram and Facebook @theradiantlifeproject

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

Is it possible to decide to be happier, and then to go out there and make it happen? Hypnotherapist, author and podcaster Richard Nicholls believes that happiness is, at least in part, a skill to be learned. The more you practise, the easier it becomes. 

Of course, each individual’s notion of happiness and their genetic capacity to achieve it easily will be very different. That doesn’t mean, though, that we can’t decide to influence those aspects of happiness that are inside our control.

In this classic reissued episode, Andrew and Richard discuss the nature of happiness, and the things we can do to make it more a part of our everyday lives.

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:

Dealing with Comparison Culture

Three Things Richard Nicholls 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 Men's Retreat near Berlin in April 2026 (details here) or his Couples Retreat in June 2026 (details here) 

Get Andrew’s free guide to difficult conversations with your partner: How to Tell Your Partner Difficult Things 

Read Richard Nicholls’ book 15 Minutes to Happiness 

Visit Richard Nicholls’ website 

Listen to the Therapy Natters podcast Richard Nicholls co-hosts with Fiona Biddle.

Follow Richard Nicholls on Twitter @richardnicholls, on Facebook @RichardNichollsAuthor and on Instagram @RichardNichollsReal.

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

At work and at home, we tend to avoid difficult conversations for as long as we can. So it’s not surprising that when we are forced to face conflict, it quickly escalates to a fever pitch. Many of us are also guilty of treating relationship conflict as a winner-takes-all debate, rather than an opportunity for connection and change. 

Conflict expert, academic and author ROBERT BORDONE has developed an approach to help: conflict resilience. This mindset allows us to sit with and grow from disagreement, and to communicate with authority and confidence while not leaving others feeling unheard. 

In the episode, Andrew and Bob cover:

Getting out of your own way as a communicator

The importance of timing

Embracing disagreement as an advantage

Anticipating and coping with defensiveness

Bob Bordone is an internationally recognized expert, author, speaker, and teacher in negotiation, conflict resolution, mediation, facilitation, and conflict resilience. As the Founder and Principal of The Cambridge Negotiation Institute, Bob consults with C-suite executives, government officials and leaders at universities and across a wide range of industries to help them navigate their toughest conflicts and negotiations. He is a Senior Fellow at Harvard Law School, and teaches at Harvard and at Georgetown University Law Center. His latest book, co-authored with Joel Salinas, is Conflict Resilience: Negotiating Disagreement Without Giving Up or Giving In. 

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:

Getting away from ‘I'm right and you're wrong’.

Three Things Bob Bordone 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 men’s retreat near Berlin in April 2026: details here 

Get Andrew’s free guide to difficult conversations with your partner: How to Tell Your Partner Difficult Things 

Read Bob Bordone and Joel Salinas’ new book: Conflict Resilience: Negotiating Disagreement Without Giving Up or Giving In. 

Visit Bob Bordone’s website 

Follow Bob Bordone on YouTube

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

It often feels like the modern world values and rewards people who remain psychologically suspended in adolescence. Many people, particularly men, prolong and enjoy their adolescence for decades. 

Conroy Harris, CEO of the charity A Band of Brothers, discovered through his own life experiences that this wasn’t a healthy way to live. He believes that everyone seeks a meaningful identity and a purpose into which to channel the energies of early adulthood. 

In this classic reissued episode, Andrew and Conroy discuss the importance of rites of passage and mentoring, and how men can support one another to live authentic lives. Conroy shares some of his own difficult experiences as a young man, including periods of homelessness, and explains how mentoring and service to his community helped him find his way. 

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:

Where Do I Fit In?

Three Things Conroy Harris 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 men’s retreat near Berlin in April 2026: details here 

Get Andrew’s free guide to difficult conversations with your partner: How to Tell Your Partner Difficult Things

Visit the A Band of Brothers website 

Follow A Band of Brothers on X @band_brothersuk

Read Iron John: a Book About Men by Robert Bly 

Andrew also mentions his interview with Dr Connie Zweig on being an elder, From Role to Soul 

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