“I wish I could tell my brain to stop, but it’s motivated to understand humanity,” said third-generation Spartan Jay Gottschalk, Ph.D., M.S., APRN, AGCNS-BC, CHPN, PMHNP-BC. Gottschalk boasts three degrees from Michigan State, plus another three from other schools. Not bad for a boy from the woods of Mio, Michigan.
“I get my deep love of nature from my dad and my passion for learning from my mom,” said Gottschalk. His dad graduated from MSU’s Fisheries and Wildlife program, and his mom was a teacher. “When I started kindergarten, I read every book on that year’s list in one day. I wanted to make my mom proud.”
Gottschalk got his B.A. and M.S. degrees in accounting from the Eli Broad College of Business because he loved how numbers influenced decision-making. He moved to Chicago to work in the corporate world, but nurtured his passion for helping others as a hospital volunteer.
“I’ve always been curious about people’s spiritual paths and how to be more mindful of others. So, I started looking for new ways to connect, to make a difference,” he said.
He went back to school and got his BSN from the University of Illinois at Chicago, followed by his MSN from MSU. Next, he earned his post-master’s certificate in psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner studies from Alverno College and a Ph.D. from Marquette University’s College of Nursing.
While completing his Ph.D., the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Like many of us, Gottschalk experienced burnout and mental fatigue—but he also found a source of inspiration.
“People were generally defaulting to compassion for each other,” he said. “I thought, ‘why can’t we do this all the time?’ That’s when I wrote the Commitment to Compassion.”
As an assistant professor of health professions at MSU’s College of Nursing, Gottschalk starts each class he teaches by reading the commitment—a statement about kindness toward yourself and others—aloud. It didn’t take long for his words to catch wind, their influence growing from his classroom throughout the university and beyond.
“We’re good at giving grace to others in times of struggle, but we’re not good at giving it to ourselves. The Commitment to Compassion is about meeting our human needs and being kind to ourselves,” he said. “When we do that, we become kinder to everyone else. I call it a practice because nobody does it perfectly.”
He believes the Commitment to Compassion can help us foster consideration for ourselves and others. Gottschalk, who starts every day by reciting it himself, welcomes the opportunity to share the practice with anyone and everyone.
“I love planting the seeds of compassion and watching people nurture and grow it in their own spaces,” he said. “We shouldn’t need a reason to be kind to each other. We should default to it.”
DR. GOTTSCHALK’S COMMITMENT TO COMPASSION:
I, [name], dedicate myself to keeping an open heart and open mind in my interactions with others. I will assume that others have positive intentions behind their actions, and I will avoid telling myself stories that assume the worst about why someone behaved in a particular way.
I recognize that by being a source of compassion for others, I am helping to reduce not only the physical suffering of the people around me, but their emotional suffering as well. By being this source of compassion, it is my sincere wish that I am helping others to spread compassion to the people they interact with throughout the day.
Most of all, I promise to be compassionate with myself and recognize that I am a human being who will make mistakes. I will make mistakes, and that is OK. I will do my best to learn from those mistakes and use them as opportunities for growth in both my personal and professional life.