“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.

In this week's classic reissued episode, 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 offers helpful videos on aspects of relationships and narcissism.

If You’re Looking for More….

You can subscribe to The Meaningful Life (via Apple Podcasts or Spotify) 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

Attend Andrew's new men's retreat, Reconnect With Yourself, this autumn in the Brandenberg countryside near Berlin 

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

Follow Dr Ruth Ann Harpur on YouTube, Instagram, X or TikTok @drruthannharpur 

Visit Dr Ruth Ann Harpur’s website, where you’ll find resources for the general public and for therapists on relationships and narcissism

Read the poetry of David Whyte, which is discussed in the bonus content this week. 

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 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 

Many of us believe that suffering is inevitable. We endure the inner turmoil associated with stress, shame, depression or loneliness and try to soldier on. Author PETER RALSTON believes, however, that most suffering can be avoided. 

In this week’s episode, Andrew and Peter discuss the dynamics of the mind that set the stage for distress and get us into trouble. Peter explains:

Peter Ralston is the author of a new book called Ending Unnecessary Suffering: How to Create a Powerful, Complete and Peaceful Life.  He is also a founder of the consciousness movement in the San Francisco Bay area and the creator of the Art of Effortless Power, an internal martial art based on effortlessly effective interaction. 

Born in San Francisco but raised primarily in Asia, Peter began studying martial arts at the age of 9 in Singapore. By the age of 28 he had black belts or expertise in almost every martial art there is and was developing his own Art of Effortless Power. In 1978 he became the first non-Asian ever to win the World Championship full-contact martial arts tournament held in the Republic of China. The founder of the Cheng Hsin Center and the author of several previous books, including The Book of Not Knowing, he currently lives outside of San Antonio, Texas.

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:

Follow Up

Attend Andrew's new men's retreat, Reconnect With Yourself, this autumn in the Brandenberg countryside near Berlin 

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

Read Peter Ralston’s new book, Ending Unnecessary Suffering: How to Create a Powerful, Complete and Peaceful Life

Learn more about Peter Ralston on his website

Follow Peter Ralston on Facebook @OfficialRalston

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 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 

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 early signs of dementia. There are moments when we simply must talk, listen and be there for one another.

DR KATHRYN MANNIX, a consultant in palliative care medicine, has spent her career having what she describes as “tender conversations” with bereaved families. Her book, Listen: How to Find the Words for Tender Conversations, is a guide to broaching difficult subjects with those we care about.

In this classic reissued episode Andrew and Kathryn discuss why it is we so often don’t say what needs to be said. They look at how to be brave in the face of discomfort, how to sit with silence, and how to speak from a place of gentleness and care. 

Dr Kathryn Mannix has spent her medical career working with people who have incurable, advanced illnesses. She is also the author of the bestselling With the End in Mind: How to Live and Die Well. Kathryn is a qualified cognitive behavioural therapist and started the UK’s first CBT clinic for palliative care patients.

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:

Follow Up

Attend Andrew's new men's retreat, Reconnect With Yourself, this autumn in the Brandenberg countryside near Berlin. 

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

Read Dr Kathryn Mannix’s  books: Listen: How to Find the Words for Tender Conversations and With the End in Mind: How to Live and Die Well 

Listen to Dr Kathryn Mannix’s previous appearance on this podcast, What You’ve Been Told About Death Might Be Wrong

Follow Dr Kathryn Mannix on Twitter and Facebook @drkathrynmannix

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 

At some point in our lives, we all step into the void. Something so big happens that we struggle even to make sense of it. 

This week Andrew is in conversation with artist JESSA FAIRBROTHER about finding our way through the pain of these unwanted experiences without getting trapped in repeating loops. 

We discuss:

Jessa Fairbrother is a British visual artist whose work spans stitch, photography, performance and drawing. The body is her main material. The artist book of her work Conversations with my mother, is held in collections at Tate Britain, the V&A, London and The Museum of Fine Art, Houston. Her companion piece, Role Play (Woman with Cushion) is included in Acts of Creation: On Art and Motherhood, a Hayward Touring exhibition travelling the UK throughout 2024-2025. Jessa became an RWA Academician in 2023. In 2025 she was awarded a DYCP award from ACE to expand her interdisciplinary writing and is authoring her experimental hybrid memoir. She works from her studio in Bristol and the Wye Valley, UK.

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:

Follow Up

Attend Andrew's new men's retreat, Reconnect With Yourself, this autumn in the Brandenberg countryside near Berlin 

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

Visit Jessa Fairbrother’s website 

Follow Jessa Fairbrother on Instagram @jessfairbrother

Read “Letting Go of IVF”, by Jessa Fairbrother, on the Wellcome Collection website

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 

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?

In this classic reissued episode, author and therapist MALCOLM STERN joins Andrew to discuss his 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:

Follow Up

Attend Andrew's new men's retreat, Reconnect With Yourself, this autumn in the Brandenberg countryside near Berlin 

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

Read Malcolm Stern’s book Slay Your Dragons With Compassion: Ten Ways to Thrive Even When It Feels Impossible. 

Visit Malcolm Stern’s website 

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 

SHADOW is a Jungian concept that refers to those traits we have suppressed in ourselves that may be waiting to find expression in our lives. This week Connie Zweig PhD returns to the podcast to talk about shadow-work for conscious relationships. 

We explore:

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  Meeting the Shadow: The Hidden Power of the Dark Side of Human Nature and Romancing the Shadow: A Guide to Soul Work for a Vital, Authentic Life, both of which have recently been reissued.  Connie has been doing contemplative practices for more than 50 years, and is a wife, stepmother and grandmother. 

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:

Follow Up

Attend Andrew's new men's retreat, Reconnect With Yourself, this autumn in the Brandenberg countryside near Berlin 

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

Read Connie Zweig’s books:

Explore Connie Zweig’s Substack, Shadow Work to Expand Awareness 

Listen to Connie Zweig’s podcast with her husband, Dr Neil’s Spiritual Awakening to Non-Duality

Visit Connie Zweig’s website https://conniezweig.com 

Follow  Connie Zweig on Twitter @InnerWorkofAge and on Facebook at @Dr.ConnieZweig

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 

We all know that good boundaries are essential if we want happy relationships. There is a lot of confusion, though, about what exactly a boundary is and how to make it work. Can we have too many boundaries? Should we ever compromise on the boundaries we set?

In this week’s classic reissued episode, Andrew talks about boundaries with Graham Johnston and Matt Wotton from the London Centre of Applied Psychology. Matt and Graham share their own experiences of creating boundaries in both love and parenting, and what it means if we are struggling to get this right.

Our ability to set boundaries is linked closely to our attachment style: those with an anxious attachment may allow their boundaries to crumble too easily; while those with an avoidant attachment can have so many rigid boundaries that they struggle to let anyone in.

Andrew also shares a prayer for good boundaries, which he often uses with marital therapy clients:

'I am me and

You are you.

It's a miracle that we've found each other

But I'm responsible for my stuff

And you're responsible for yours'

Graham Johnston is a psychotherapist and educator. He is Director of Policy at The Bowlby Centre, the UK’s leading training institution in attachment-based psychotherapy, and has also worked for the UK Government, specialising in home affairs. He and Matt Wotton are the Co-Founders and Directors of LCAP. 

Matt Wotton is a psychotherapist and executive coach, and also Chair of The Bowlby Centre and Director at LCAP. Matt has over two decades of experience in forensic mental health in the criminal justice system - in operations, coaching leaders, and advising ministers. He led the review of Race in the Criminal Justice System (The Lammy Review), commissioned by the Prime Minister, and has been a member of the Prison & Probation Board. 

Follow Up

Attend Andrew's new men's retreat, Reconnect With Yourself, this autumn in the Brandenberg countryside near Berlin 

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

Learn more about the London Centre for Applied Psychology (LCAP), where Graham Johnston and Matt Wotton work as Directors. 

Learn more about The Bowlby Centre,  the UK’s leading training institution in attachment-based psychotherapy. 

Follow LCAP on Twitter and Facebook @LCAPsychology.

Read The Mindful Athlete by George Munford. 

Read the poem “On Marriage” by Kahlil Gibran. 

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 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 

There are people in our lives who mesmerise but at the same time diminish and damage us. They excite us about the possibilities life holds, while teaching us that we are not worthy of achieving them. Their impact can be so great that for years after we continue trying to replicate the intensity of our time with them, seeing everything through our monster’s lens. 

Psychotherapist and author Charlotte Fox Weber joins me this week to discuss SACRED MONSTERS - the people we encounter in love, friendship or work whose devastating charisma may shape us for years after they depart. 

We cover:

Charlotte Fox Weber is a psychotherapist, author and the founding head of The School of Life Psychotherapy. Her latest book, Sacred Monsters will be available in 2026. 

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:

Follow Up

Attend Andrew's new men's retreat, Reconnect With Yourself, this autumn in the Brandenberg countryside near Berlin 

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

Learn more about Charlotte Fox Weber’s book Sacred Monsters, available 2026 

Read Charlotte Fox Weber’s book, Tell Me What You Want: A Therapist and Her Clients Explore Our 12 Deepest Desires. 

Follow Charlotte Fox Weber on Instagram @charlottefoxweberpsychotherapy

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 

Throw away your FitBit, stop counting your daily steps, and instead learn to run mindfully. If you can find the three key elements of space, silence and patience, you’ll be far more able to tackle big problems at work and at home.

William Pullen is a psychotherapist who helps clients using his revolutionary method of Dynamic Running Therapy. His work combines movement and talk therapy to harness the synergy of mind, body and spirit.

In this classic reissued episode Andrew and William discuss

🏃🏾‍♂️How a good walk is different from a good run

🏃🏽‍♀️The practice of “asking your run/walk a question”

🏃🏻What the way someone walks can tell us about them. 

William also tackles a particularly thorny reader’s letter about what to do if you find that your smartphone use is taking over your life and spoiling your relationships.

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:

⭐ Running to improve your anger management

⭐ Three things William Pullen 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 new men's retreat, Reconnect With Yourself, this autumn in the Brandenberg countryside near Berlin 

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

Buy William Pullen’s book Run for Your Life: Mindful Running for a Happy Life

Visit William Pullen’s website 

Watch William Pullen’s TEDx talk “Movement is Medicine”

Follow William Pullen on Instagram @dynamicrunningtherapy and on Twitter @pullentherapy

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 

There’s no one set of rules that will see us through. Psychologist and author PROFESSOR ROSS G. WHITE works instead on the concept of psychological flexibility. If we have flexible habits and mindset, we can navigate life’s inevitable storms with at least a degree of strength and grace. 

Ross believes that just as martial arts like jiu-jitsu train students to be grounded and focused, we can also train the mind to be agile and flexible; able to roll with the punches whilst staying true to core values. 

Andrew and Ross discuss:

Professor Ross G. White is an award-winning clinical psychologist who specializes in supporting the mental health and wellbeing of adults working in high-performance environments. This includes elite-level athletes in rugby, football, athletics and tennis. He is also an expert in global mental health and has conducted research in collaborations with the World Health Organization and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees on interventions for reducing distress experienced by refugees in the aftermath of humanitarian crises. He is currently Professor of Clinical Psychology at Queen's University Belfast, and is a director of Strive2Thrive, a training and consultancy.

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:

Follow Up

Attend Andrew's new men's retreat, Reconnect With Yourself, this autumn in the Brandenberg countryside near Berlin. 

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

Read Ross G. White’s new book, The Tree That Bends: How a Flexible Mind Can Help You Thrive 

Visit Ross G. White’s website 

In the bonus episode this week Andrew reads from James Hollis’ book, Living an Examined Life: Wisdom for the Second Half of the Journey. You can buy the book HERE. 

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