This week we are releasing a comprehensive mini-series called Normalizing Grief in the SikhNet Learning Center with AmarAtma Singh Khalsa. He introduces the series with his reflections on his own relationship with grief and why he feels this is such an important topic for all Sikhs.
Grief hit me hard at a young age and it took me nearly 20 years to realize it was grief. The pain became all encompassing and existential. I was living the "dark night of the soul" for years. I was in a constant search for how to alleviate this pain. My education, my hobbies, and my professional development were all dedicated to lessen the pain and feel better.
It took me to:
- creating my own major in my undergraduate in studying spirituality from an interdisciplinary perspective, to…
- working several years in a spiritual bookstore exploring vast spiritual traditions, to…
- acquiring teacher training certification in yoga and teaching for the next 12 years, to…
- a 5-year Clinical Master’s Degree in Traditional Chinese Medicine studying ancient understanding of the mind body spirit interconnection, to…
- becoming ordained in ministry through a loooooong meditation focused apprenticeship, to…
- Merging medicine and ministry and working as a Chaplain offering emotional and spiritual care in the acute care hospital setting.
Whew!!!! I learned a ton and gained some amazing experiences.
But knowledge and spiritual growth weren’t enough. I needed to learn how to traverse the emotional terrain.
It was a grief course I took in my early Chaplaincy training days that finally made the difference for me. I originally signed up thinking it would help me to help others, but what it really did was help me see that my pain was tied to unresolved grief. It was eye opening and… it provided with resources that brought me systematic relief!!
It was huge and life changing.
After working in end of life care for the better part of a decade, becoming Board Certified in Chaplaincy, serving hundreds and even thousands of grievers, I started to really understand the human condition especially when it comes to how we grieve, where we get stuck, and how to provide relief.
Gratefully, I’ve been able to put all this life experience and education into a way to make a difference.
The work is extraordinary. Helping people reclaim peace after a loss is deeply dear to my heart. I’m grateful to share what it is that took me so long to learn and understand.
I hope this mini-series, Normalizing Grief, in the SikhNet Learning Center, provides solace and hope as well as resources of what to do with all the pain connected with grief.
With love,
AmarAtma Singh Khalsa
Amar Atma Singh Khalsa has spent the better part of the decade supporting people transitioning out of life, families grieving their loss, and hospital staff experiencing burnout as a Board Certified Chaplain and an Ordained Sikh Dharma Minister.