About CU

Compassionate U

Compassionate U is a place where young adults—graduate students, new professionals, everyone—engage in conversations and dialogue about what it means to be compassionate; what it means to exercise our innate human sense of compassion.

Compassion Defined

A word often associated with weakness, and compromise in the worst sense, Compassionate U seeks to illustrate the kind of strength, courage and bravery it can take to show compassion. What kind of person it takes to exercise compassion.

Compassion is a characteristic that is almost uniquely human. Of the few things that make us distinct as a species, our sense of compassion is perhaps the greatest. Certainly other species have shown behavior and tendencies that look like compassion, and perhaps they are indeed true compassion, but none in so much as human sense of compassion.

More about Compassionate U

Compassionate U will cover topics that show the struggle that we experience today when trying to exercise our sense of compassion. We know that everything we do make a difference; that every decision we make has an impact.

We know too that we care very much for other people, and we have certainly learned that we have to care for the environment, and should care for other species as well. And so when it comes to making decisions; when it comes to deciding how we will act in certain situations, it can be difficult. We know we are going to affect something—perhaps not in the best of ways—so we must wrestle with our sense of compassion, and our desire or need to make a decision.

Sometimes we don’t make the best, most compassionate decisions, but the point is that we think about it, try to decide on the best course of action, and move on from there. Though we must reflect on the decisions we make, and strive to always do what’s best, we must also realize that we are individuals, that are a part of a greater whole, and each compassionate action we take is a step in the right direction. We cannot beat ourselves up over mistakes.

Exercising compassion is a privilege. Many of this world live their lives without ability, means or knowledge to exercise their sense of compassion. The authors and contributors to Compassionate U are all in a situation where they are fortunate enough to have choices, to have means to make decisions based on their sense of compassion. Recognizing however that some readers are in a different situation, Compassionate U seeks also to draw attention the world issues that cause limited choices, and provide advice on making change to help alleviate or eliminate the issues all together.

What You Will Find Here

Within the context of the conversation on compassion, readers will find the following specific types of articles here:

• Shawn’s Journal – As Founder and Principal Contributor of Compassionate U, Shawn Sweeney, reflects on his own personal experiences and encounters with issues related to compassion through his own life, in his community and around the world.
• A Taste of Compassion – Eating, for many in the developed world, is the most common behavior of human beings, second only to sleeping. As such our eating habits and decisions about food play a big part in our exercise of compassion. Compassionate U’s recipe reviews are intended to be positive and healthy, affording great nutrition while at the same time being conscientious of the people who made the food available to us to eat, the animals who may have been affected by it’s production and the impacts the food had on the environment we all share. Andrea Nelson is the Lead Contributor to the Compassionate U Recipe Reviews.
• The Goods on the Goods – Going through any store we see what’s on the shelf and can sometimes feel incredibly helpless to know what’s okay to buy, and what is really bad for either the people who made it, animals or the environment. Compassionate U Product Reviews will take a look at products that strive to balance compassion towards all three, giving readers the information they need to make confident decisions in their purchases. Andrea Nelson is the Lead Contributor to the Compassionate U Product Reviews.
• The Compassionate Bookshelf – So many people have reflected on compassion, struggling with some of humanities hardest issues, and shared them via their writing. Fiction or non-fiction, adult or children’s, the genre and age do not matter. We can all learn from these lessons, and use them to help us on our path to growing a strong sense of compassion. Kelly Gesch is the Lead Contributor to the Compassionate Bookshelf.
• Ask Mom* – Who better to ask questions about compassion of than your very own mother? From conception, if we are fortunate enough, our mom’s infuse us with compassion. Their experience as a mom, as a parent and as a woman makes them innately and inherently strong when it comes to dealing with issues of compassion. As we are all always growing, but especially the audience of Compassionate U, we include mom in our conversation, and continue to rely on her to help us when we need it.
• Compassion In Residence – Because guests are always welcome. This section of Compassionate U will invite guests who have exciting careers that in some way or another touch on compassion or how it plays a role in making personal decisions, or addressing world issues.

*Disclaimer -  Dads are compassionate too. So please know that this site does not intent to suggest otherwise. This section was created out of personal interest, and advice from Dads will be covered elsewhere in Compassionate U.

Who Should Follow Compassionate U

The conversations on Compassionate U are for people who are in a place where they want to engage in dialogue about their own behavior, and who are striving to balance their own sense of compassion in the context of living their everyday lives. Not everyone will be in this place, and certainly no one is ever always in this place.

So everyone is invited to join us, follow when you are there, leave when you are not, but always know that you can come back whenever you are there again. We are all on a journey, we are all on a path, and when ours cross, they cross and when they diverge they diverge. We will all end in the same place eventually.