"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

Many of us indulge in escapist or addictive behaviours that fall short of what society would define as problematic addictions. According to author CECILY MAK, however, such behaviours can dim the good parts of life along with the bad. If you want to live life with clarity and purpose, identifying and addressing your “dimmers” can make an excellent starting point.

In this episode, Andrew and Cecily discuss:

• Cecily’s own experience of giving up alcohol.
• What happens when we avoid difficult feelings.
• The Eight Awarenesses - a set of principles we can use for inspiration and guidance on the path to embodying a clear life.
• Why dimmers are not always a substance: they may also include excessive exercise, disordered eating, or overworking.

Cecily Mak is a mother, investor, advocate, and founder devoted to helping people live dimmer-free—with clarity, courage, and the freedom to change without stigma or shame. She is also the co-founder of Wisdom Ventures, a bold fund investing in a future of deeper human connection and well-being.

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:

• Free Yourself from Unwanted Habits
• Three Things Cecily Mak 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

Read Cecily Mak’s new book, Undimmed: The Eight Awarenesses for Freedom From Unwanted Habits

Listen to Cecily Mak’s Undimmed podcast

Subscribe to Cecily Mak’s Clear Life Substack

Follow Cecily Mak on social media: Instagram | LinkedIn

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

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

Why is the sky blue? Why do only birds get to fly? Why do people die? It’s natural for children to ask questions, big and small. But too often, adults brush off such questions as an annoyance, or scold kids for being rude, or even respond to their asking with punishment. When that happens, many children stop asking and grow up to become adults who believe it’s safer to stay quiet and squelch their inherent, and essential, sense of wonder.

Author LAURA MUNSON joins Andrew this week to discuss:

• Naming and inhabiting our own creativity
• Rediscovering our sense of wonder
• The power of surrendering to life’s mysteries.
• Finding your calling
• Finding meaning through slowing down.

Laura Munson is the New York Times, USA Today, and international bestselling author of the novel Willa’s Grove and the memoir This Is Not The Story You Think It Is. Her latest book is The Wild Why. Laura also founded and continues to offer the top-ranked Haven Writing Retreats. Laura has been featured or published in Vanity Fair, Elle, Redbook, Time, Newsweek, The New York Times' “Modern Love” column, The New York Times Magazine, O, The Oprah Magazine, and many others. She has appeared on Good Morning America, The Early Show, WGN, NPR, London’s This Morning, Australia’s Sunrise, and other global media outlets.

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 Cope Better with Criticism Again
• Three Things Laura Munson 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 https://andrewgmarshall.com/mens-retreat/

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

Connect With Laura Munson:

Website: https://lauramunson.com/

Book: The Wild Why

Writing Programs and Retreats

Modern Love Essay in the New York Times.

Take a look at Andrew’s new online relationship course: My Best Relationship Tools https://courses.andrewgmarshall.com/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