20: The Stranger Within the Self, Healing, and Becoming Whole

This chapter discusses the use of mindfulness practices and currere to become (re)acquainted with the “stranger” inside. This stranger is not just the shadow side but also parts the author had forgotten or with which she had lost touch. The chapter starts with a letter to her body, mediates through effective mindfulness practices, and ends with becoming whole through following the principles of nonviolence and of ubuntu to integrate the shadow. This embodied labor has helped the author (re)claim pieces of herself and process them to begin integrating those parts into a more whole, fuller Self. This work has also been part of a healing process. The author also describes how this work was acts of self-nonviolence, which is integral to outer nonviolence.