Musings On Wellbeing

This episode of Musing on Wellbeing examines the intersection of well-being, sustainability, and activism. Our choices as consumers shape the world around us, but how can we ensure those choices align with our values? From ethical labor practices to climate solutions, understanding the impact of our actions is key to creating a healthier planet and a more just society.

Host Charlie Bresler is joined by Dar...

What if the secret to lasting wellbeing isn’t discipline, guilt, or fear—but pleasure? In this episode of Musings on Wellbeing, host Charlie Bresler explores how joy, purpose, and connection can be more powerful motivators for healthy behavior than the traditional messages of restriction and willpower. 

Joining the conversation is Dr. Sarah Matyko, Vice President of Well Being Strategy at Premise Health an...

Welcome to the new season of Musings. As you've likely noticed from the artwork, Musings is taking a new direction — we're broadening our horizons to consider the idea of "wellbeing" as a whole. What does it mean to be truly "well," physically, mentally, and emotionally? 

In this first episode, Charlie Bresler swaps his host chair for the guest chair, and long-time friend and colleague Stacey Black is aski...

How important is hope and a feeling of agency over your own life?

I think we’d say those are crucial to anyone. But if you’re born into a consistent cycle of poverty, if your family and community have struggled for generations, hope and agency can seem as fantastical as unicorns.

Welcome to part 2 of Charlie Bresler’s discussion with Shameran Abed, Executive Director of BRAC International, and...

“When people ask me now what BRAC stands for, I like to say that we stand for an idea – an idea of a world where everyone has an equal opportunity to realize their potential."   --Sir Fazle Hasan Abed, BRAC Founder

For Shameran Abed, BRAC was basically an elder sibling. The organization, formed in 1972, preceded Shameran’s birth by about a decade and was founded by his father, Sir Fazle Hasan Abed.

“I was instilled with this idea that I come from a lot of privilege and lot of ease in my own life, and to use that as power to clear the barriers for others to exercise their own privilege and power.”

Rena Greifinger has used her power and privilege to help some of the most underrepresented and marginalized people in the world. Director of Individual Philanthropy and Managing Director of the Maverick Coll...

Musings host Charlie Bresler wrote a piece called “You Don’t Have to Be Brave to Save Lives,” (www.thelifeyoucansave.org/you-dont-have-to-be-brave-to-save-lives) about how us ordinary humans can do good from the comfort of our living rooms. Someone should probably send that URL to Vincent “Vin” van der Holst. 

Founder of BOAS, a company that both saves denim from landfills and donates profits to charitable...

In 2008, Australian entrepreneurs Annabelle Chauncy and David Everett founded School for Life. The mission statement tells it all, really: “To educate poverty out of existence.”

The co-founders met in Kenya where they were working as volunteers, and they saw in real time how education changes lives for the better, for individuals and their communities. They returned to Australia determined to build a schoo...

Born on a dairy farm in West Sussex, Dr. Wendy Harrison has been around animals and agriculture her entire life. In fact, she stated her desire to be a vet at the ripe old age of six.

While doing post-doc research and study at the University of Georgia, Dr. Harrison took a volunteer position at the non-profit Heifer International. She describes having a “Eureka moment” during this time, when she fully real...

Starvation isn’t only a deficit of calories, it’s also a deficit of nutrients. Children especially suffer when the food they do get doesn’t meet all their nutritional needs.

Felix Brooks-church has some big ideas to end the “hidden hunger” of micronutrient deficiency, and in 2013, he and David Dodson co-founded the non-profit organization Sanku to help close the gap. 

One of Felix’s biggest id...

What do concert tickets and philanthropy have in common? Generally, not much, but a couple of friends of The Life You Can Save are working very hard to change that.

Tech entrepreneurs Joshua Ross and Adam McCurdie could have made a fortune building their ticketing platform start up, but a trip to war-torn Sri Lanka fueled their desires to do work that was truly meaningful.

It took a few years ...

When  the book The Life You Can Save: Acting Now to End World Poverty was first published in 2009, it completely changed (and re-ignited) the conversation around poverty, ethics, and philanthropy. Clearly it affected Musings host Charlie Bresler, who, after reading the book, ultimately approached its author about starting a non-profit based around philanthropy.

According to its author, Peter Singer, those ...

Most of us in the west have our first pair of shoes long before we can actually walk. Not true for Caroline Teti, who had her first pair of shoes at 12, when it was time to go to high school.

From a very early age, Caroline understood the importance of education for finding a way out of the limitations that come from poverty — fewer choices, poorer health, less ability to contribute to her community. Her f...

One of its first three employees, journalist Dylan Matthews is a senior correspondent and head writer for Future Perfect at Vox. For those unfamiliar, Future Perfect tells stories about people and organizations “finding the best ways to do good.”

Dylan came across Peter Singer’s book The Life You Can Save at a formative age, helping cement his interests around global health, anti-poverty efforts, philanthr...

Will Rayward-Smith has spent his adult life learning about the effects of climate change. Fortunately, unlike many who feel overwhelmed by the climate crisis, Will has dived in to help bring about lasting change.

A specialist in decarbonization and transitioning to clean energy with a PhD in Clean Energy from Cambridge, Will understands the urgency of the issue. He founded SunSHIFT to replace diesel genera...

What drives us to do good things? And what dissuades us from doing those good things, even if we generally believe ourselves to be good people?

This has been the topic underlying Season One of the Musings podcast, and Charlie has had some truly fascinating conversations on that question.

In Season Two, Charlie plans to look at a different perspective on philanthropy and doing good: “Effective ...

The “mildly talented” (100% his term, not ours) actor, Nick D’Agosto tweeted enthusiastically about The Life You Can Save, and when the team saw the tweet, they jumped on it! They reached out and connected Nick and Charlie, and a friendship was formed.

Nick invited Charlie to appear on his (Nick’s) podcast, “God & Other Delicacies,” and now Charlie is returning the favor. If Nick sounds familiar, it’s beca...

It seems almost ridiculously simple: when donors give money directly to recipients, poverty goes down. 

Michael Faye, co-founder of GiveDirectly and Segovia, and CEO of Taptap Send, came to this “cash works” realization in the early 2000s. Michael was working on his PhD in Business Economics at Harvard University, evaluating ways to help bring about the end of extreme poverty. 

Once it became ...

“Money, although it won't make us happy in and of itself, is an incredibly powerful tool in our lives, when we use it in alignment with things that matter to us. Because whether we like it or not, money is needed and necessary to accomplish things that matter.”

John Hagensen, Managing Director at wealth management firm Creative Planning, probably handles the “tool” of money better than most. With a profoun...