If you’re feeling anxious, meditation and mindfulness may not be the answer. Instead, author KARLA McLAREN would advise us to sit with the feelings of anxiety and hear the useful messages they’re bringing to help us cope with a tricky situation.

In this episode, Andrew and Karla discuss:

• How anger, shame and sadness can be the bearers of crucial information.
• “Negative” emotions and the skills and energy they can provide.
• Why understanding our emotions is so hard.
• How to engage with challenging emotions, when society has taught many of us it’s better to repress them.

Karla McLaren, M.Ed. is an award-winning author, educator, workplace consultant, and social science researcher. Her work revalues even the most “negative” emotions and opens startling new pathways into self-awareness, effective communication, and healthy empathy. She is the founder and CEO of Emotion Dynamics Inc.

She is also the author of many books, including The Language of Emotions, The Power of Emotions at Work, and Embracing Anxiety, and she is the developer of the online learning site Empathy Academy.

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 Deal With Confusion
• Three Things Karla McLaren 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

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

Read Karla McLaren’s new book The Language of Emotions Workbook

Read Karla McLaren’s other books

Visit Karla McLaren’s website

Find out about upcoming courses at the online learning site developed by Karla McLaren, Empathy Academy

Follow Karla McLaren @KarlaMcLarenAuthor on Facebook, @karlamclaren.m.ed on Instagram, @EmotionDynamics on YouTube and on LinkedIn.

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

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 her annual holiday to the Cote d’Azur, moving out of her home, and leaving behind her marriage and a well-established career.

In seeking to understand what forced this huge rupture in a previously smooth existence, Kay tried a range of mainstream and alternative therapies. In the end, she took part in 37 different forms of therapy to explore her particular midlife crisis and experience of the menopause. From colonic irrigation through to Shamanic therapy, Kay found solace and insight that she was able to share in her powerful book, My Life in 37 Therapies.

In this reissued classic episode, Kay and Andrew explore the many different ways in which therapy can help us cope with midlife, and its tendency to throw at us so many of the unresolved issues of early life.

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:

• Three Things Kay Hutchison 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

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

Buy My Life in 37 Therapies by Kay Hutchison

Find out more about dealing with midlife and the relationship issues it can cause in Andrew’s book It’s Not a Midlife Crisis, It’s an Opportunity.

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

Society teaches men that strength lies in ignoring their feelings and “soldiering on”. Author and relationship coach BRYAN REEVES has seen the costs of this approach both in his own personal life and those of his clients.

This week Andrew and Bryan discuss:

• Bryan’s story of finding direction after leaving the US Air Force.
• The reasons why men resist unwanted feelings
• The damage this causes to their relationships with family and friends.

A former US Air Force Captain, Bryan is an internationally renowned author, relationship coach and men’s coach. His blog, videos, courses, and books have been consumed by 50+ million people. Bryan co-hosts the popular podcast, “Men, This Way,” and his newest book, Choose Her Every Day (Or Leave Her) has so far sold over 10,000 copies as a self-published edition.

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:

• Three Things Bryan Reeves knows to be true.
• Walk Away Man Syndrome
• 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

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

Read Bryan Reeves’ new book, Choose Her Every Day (Or Leave Her)

Listen to Bryan Reeves’ podcast Men, This Way.

Visit Bryan Reeves’ website

Follow Bryan Reeves on Instagram @bryanreevesinsight and on Facebook and TikTok @bryanreevesofficial.

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