769. Coaching Through the Meaning Crisis- with Mark Walsh and Dr. Helen Machen-Pearce

In this episode, I speak with Dr. Helen Machen-Pearce about meaning coaching, modern nihilism, and why so many people today feel lost despite unprecedented comfort and freedom. We explore the collapse of traditional sources of meaning — including religion, community, family, and vocation — and how modern culture often replaces them with "idols" such as status, money, pleasure, productivity, and online validation.

We discuss practical approaches to helping people reconnect with purpose through embodiment, values work, narrative coaching, death awareness, belonging, and service. Along the way, we examine midlife crisis, young men searching for direction, the psychology of transcendence, co-regulation, and why suffering and limitation can become sources of meaning rather than simply problems to eliminate.

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