Living in an Uncertain World Imperfectly

In 2018, I wrote the book, “Imperfect in an Uncertain World.” If you do not remember, there was a lot of uncertainty and fear raging across the globe and in the US. Families and communities fractured. This book was an attempt to address some real internal repercussions of what was occurring externally. To put it another way: “Why were we feeling so much personal discomfort and dissonance?” 

It's now 2025 — the way of life in which I was raised is no longer. Looking back I can see where the US culture had these alt right tendencies for much of my 60+ years, but I was either unaware or had just bought into the illusions. By the time I woke up — about 25 years ago — we were thigh high in the muck. 

Like many of you, I am discouraged. Somedays I feel really impotent. How can I be the change that Gandhi calls us to be? That is where my book, “Imperfect in an Uncertain World” comes in. I am going to offer a series of blogs and videos with activities that encourage us (you and me) to dig into who we are. To tether to our core. To act from that tether. 

I don’t have many answers, but I’ve got a slew of questions and plenty of suggestions. I am inviting you to start at the core, your core. How can each of us mine the gold and the shadow and weave them together in ways that has us showing up authentically? 

We are imperfect. The world is uncertain. While we cannot change life’s uncertainty, we can shift how we view that uncertainty and how we show up in the midst of the turmoil. We can see our imperfections not as bad but, once befriended, as the basis of our superpower. Our imperfections power our abilities to act effectively in a chaotic world.

Each of us is being called to a paradigm shift — to radically change how we show up in this world. That shift will make us more authentic, more vulnerable, more humble, and much more durable. 

So, let’s begin.

Get comfortable. Move into your core. Find a rhythm within your silence. In this moment,  acknowledge the angst.  Let it go as best you can. Feel your peace well up. Rest in your stillness.

Deep in your core is an imperfection wanting to be heard. Invite your imperfection to make itself known. 

Step1: Identify this imperfection that is calling to you. Spend sometime fleshing it out. Bring it to life. 

• Recall how this character trait/attitude/ way of showing up negatively impacted you. 
• How is this imperfection causing suffering? Allow your self to feel all of the emotions around this. Remember: this is about you. You need not share this with anyone other than you. 
• Identify the challenge in the imperfection. (If you are not quite sure, that is okay for now. What is important is that you can name the imperfection.
• What have you learned from this time of reflection? 

I find it helpful to write this down. It allows me to better understand. Sometimes writing will trigger other knowings, epiphanies for me.. 

Step2:  Name an imperfection in another. It’s often easier to see the issues with another than with our self. 

• What does the imperfection trigger in you?
• How did you react when you were triggered?
• What did you tell yourself about the other person? The situation? 
• Identify your challenge in the imperfection. Or, how are you being called to be within the experience?

Step3: Using the experience in Step2, name the imperfection that is being triggered in you. Use the questions in step1 to better understand how your imperfection is part of the schism. In this, come up with one way that you can change. Not the other person, not the situation — you are changing you.

These steps are a practice of better understanding you. You can practice all three steps together; you can practice step1 by itself, you can practice step2 and step3 together. Do not practice step2 by itself. It will only add to triggering your own imperfections and widening the schism.

This is the foundational practice. I will offer other practices that will help you to strengthen the foundation from which all of your thoughts and actions and words are triggered. 

Are you on the ultimate quest — living into a stronger, more durable relationship with their sacred in ways that make a difference in their world. I am available for spiritual companioning. Schedule a get-to-know-me chat. 

Van(essa) F. Hurst is an intuitive, a mystic, and a contemplative. As a spiritual director she journeys with seekers on the ultimate quest — living into a stronger, more durable relationship with their sacred in ways that make a difference in their world. She is the author of five books and believes that through our lived experiences, we become the people we are meant to be.

 

You Are Here: Let’s Begin

We knew it was coming. Can’t say that I am shocked or even surprised by what is unfolding. What does surprise me — in a simply wonderful way — is the response of so many. The responses are about accountability and solid facts. If you are not one of them, that is okay. While we are all “here,” we are responding to that here in a different way. What’s important is that we show up where we are and work from there.

So, you are here. Now what? Let’s start with the what-not-to-dos: Don’t deny, minimize, or stuff what you are feeling. That leads to a potential pressure cooker explosion. The emotions come out sideways. We do or say things that we regret later.

I don’t know about you, but creating a mess that I need to clean up is not on my list of preferred things to do. Instead of denying, minimizing, or stuffing, own what you are feeling, dive deep into the messiness, allow yourself to feel it. Simply: name it. Don’t blame it. Don’t shame it. 

Honestly be with how you are. That is the first step.

Let’s practice: allow some of those tumultuous thoughts and feeling to rise to your being, breathe in, breath out, connect to your core. Don’t be concerned about all the uncertainty that is rising. Focus on the calm that emanates from your core. As you breathe, you might go for a walk (sometimes my walks help the angst leach out of my body). Or, you might sit in the quiet. Do something that will take you out of the sensory overload and into a place where you reconnect to you. 

As feelings surface, surrender into them. This is not an act of desperate giving up. It is a practice of curious exploration. As you surrender you no longer cling to the emotions, but flow through them as witness. Notice any body sensations, what your mind is saying, what emotions are lurking underneath the initial feeling. Your curious exploration is a time of noticing — nothing more, nothing less. 

Don’t despair if this doesn’t “work” the first time. If you are too tangled in the emotion. You may need to do this over and over again until you better understand the emotion and it lifts out of your being. 

What’s next? After neutralizing the feeling — or at least diminishing its impact — ask yourself one thing that you can do to make a difference. This one thing may not be an external. If fact, it may be an act of self care. In caring for yourself, you begin to heal the world. 

If you cannot surface anything, talk to a friend or friends. This is not a complaining session, but a time of mutual support and creative brainstorming. Together name something that you can do to make a difference. You may find that as you practice this letting go, you discover the courage to edge further and further toward your boundary and beyond until you are doing things that make a difference to not only you but to the world. 

Van(essa) F. Hurst is an intuitive, a mystic, and a contemplative. As a spiritual director she journeys with seekers on the ultimate quest — living into a stronger, more durable relationship with their sacred in ways that make a difference in their world. She is the author of five books and believes that through our lived experiences, we become the people we are meant to be. 

Reach out to me:  hurst.vanessa@gmail.com  vanessafhurst.com