Choosing Light: Transforming Grief Through the Practice of Mindful Photography and Self-Reflection

The invention of the camera changed the capacity to see the world, remember events, document time, and capture emotions. For nearly two centuries, photography has been used in a myriad of circumstances. Its main function of freezing time through the creation of a visual image reflects a desire to remember experiences, people, and things, and to preserve them in a photograph. This desire may increase when the image-maker is experiencing an impending loss or is in the grief process. Photography is a medium of communication that can be used to relate to others, inspire the meaning-making process, document events, and memorialize significant life events--even death.

Imagery is a vital part of all the stories we create. Opening our eyes and hearts to death and loss and choosing to be mindfully present through the grief process engages the most authentic parts of ourselves. Our meaningful presence through the grief process and those reflective moments we create for ourselves become a path forward. As we allow the space for grief to evolve, we begin to notice our interconnectedness- and within those heartfelt moments we recognize the essence of who we are, and from there the seeds of inner strength are nourished.

There is a deficit of sufficient tools, rituals and practices to manage grief and loss, and talk therapy alone is not enough of an intervention. A number of people are visual learners and processors, which is just one reason this book is needed. Another reason this book is needed is because the experience of grief, death and dying is still considered a taboo subject and is difficult to think about and communicate about. Death avoidance and unhealthy grieving is problematic in many cultures, specifically Western culture.

Dr. Jessica Thomas holds an MS in Marriage and Family Therapy and a PhD in Psychology with an emphasis in Transpersonal Psychology. She is a therapist, clinical supervisor, grief educator, and organizational consultant.

Jessica has served on the not-for-profit board of the NW Association for Death Education and Bereavement Support for over eight years. She has been a hospice volunteer and a proud volunteer and advocate for Death Cafes, working to increase awareness of death and dying in the greater community.

As a professor at Lewis & Clark College, she has created course work and taught on death and grief, psycho-spiritual development and counseling, research methods, and clinical supervision. She also provides clinical supervision for counseling students at the California Institute of Integral Studies. Her doctoral research, Mindful Photography and its Implications in End-of-Life Caregiving: An Art-based Phenomenology, focused on creative expression and the experience of anticipatory loss. Jessica’s subsequent developments include integrating her mindful photography therapeutic method into groups. Within and Without mindful photography reflection groups support those who are traversing grief due to a death or other major life transition.

She offers both professional and community workshops, presentations, and talks on death and grief, transpersonal psychology, and the Within and Without therapeutic method. Some of Jessica’s favorite projects involve consulting with organizations and developing death and grief education, as well as facilitating creative training sessions and meaningful group practices.