Choosing Light

Mindful photography and self-reflection can be invaluable tools for grievers struggling to create meaning from loss. Learning to slow down, notice, create, and reflect inspires a sense of confidence, inner strength, gratitude, meaningful insight, and wisdom. Written for death and grief practitioners and educators as well as for those experiencing grief, Choosing Light teaches the Within and Without therapeutic method and how it can be transformative for individuals, groups, and communities. Guided steps and real-life exemplars guide readers through a healing journey to find authentic meaning and peace.

Dr. Jessica Thomas is a therapist, author, educator, and clinical supervisor whose work sits at the intersection of mental health, grief, and psychospiritual care. She holds an MS in Marriage and Family Therapy and a PhD in Psychology with an emphasis in Transpersonal Psychology. A longtime board member of the non-profit Northwest Association for Death Education and Bereavement Support, she has also served as a hospice volunteer and an advocate for Death Cafés, helping normalize thoughtful conversation about death and grief.
As a professor at Lewis & Clark College, Dr. Thomas designs and teaches coursework 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 explored mindful photography and anticipatory loss, work that led to the development of Within & Without(TM), a therapeutic mindful-photography program that supports people navigating grief after a death and through major life transitions.
Dr. Thomas offers professional and community workshops, presentations, and talks on death and grief, transpersonal psychology, and the Within and Without(TM) method. She is the author of Choosing Light: Transforming Grief through the Practice of Mindful Photography and podcast host for Transforming Grief, One Conversation at a Time. Learn more at DrJessicaThomas.com.

Foreword by Ji Hyang Padma
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter 1: Reflecting on Death, Grief, and Loss
Anticipatory Grief
Complicated Grief
Preparedness
Notes
Chapter 2: Expanding Awareness
Mindfulness
Aesthetic Perception
Creative Expression
Notes
Chapter 3: Open Your Eyes. Open Your Heart.
Mindful Photography
Photography, Death, and Dying
Developing Your Practice
Notes
Chapter 4: Within and Without
Magnificence and Insignificance (Anticipatory Grief)
Veil of Grief (Bereavement Grief)
Feeling Cared For (Grief with Life-Threatening Illness)
Mind and Spirit Free at Last (Lingering Grief)
Chapter 5: Choosing Light
Meaning-Making
Symbolism
Photographic Equivalence
Notes
Chapter 6: Transformative Growth
Befriending Grief
Continuing Bonds
Sacred Outlook
Notes
Chapter 7: Therapeutic Photography
Healing Ritual
Reflection Groups
Healing In Communion
Notes
Conclusion
Note
Resources
References
Index
About the Author