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a scene<\/a> from the movie,\u00a0Forest Gump,\u00a0<\/em>Forest is talking to a young women that appears to be a nurse at a bus stop.\u00a0 In his typical style, he rambles from one topic to another occasionally interjecting, \u201cMomma always said\u2026\u201d\u00a0 When he notices her nursing shoes, the following dialogue ensues.<\/p>\nForest:\u00a0 I bet you could walk all day in shoes like that and not feel a thing.\u00a0 I wish I had shoes like that!<\/p>\n
The Lady:\u00a0 My feet hurt.<\/p>\n
I currently work on an assembly line.\u00a0 We work about 50 hours a week right now and all of it is standing.\u00a0 My daughter is a nurse and spends a lot of time on her feet.\u00a0 I\u2019m sure there are various professions that walk constantly like some postal workers.\u00a0 My other daughter and son-in-law have worked jobs where they spent the entire day on their feet.<\/p>\n
I imagine that our bodies were probably designed more for this walking than sitting.\u00a0 When I worked in an office, I was constantly trying to stay ahead of the back pain that plagued me often.<\/p>\n
After the first few days at my current job, I inquired\u00a0 at work to find the magic solution to the blisters and corns and other uncomfortable side-effects of doing this type of job.\u00a0 One person pointed me to good insoles as a comfort.\u00a0 \u201cThat really helped me,\u201d she said.\u00a0 Other people stressed the importance of good shoes to combat the continual pressure of standing for long periods.<\/p>\n
After trying several things and complaining to one team leader, he just kind of gave me a look.\u00a0 Then, he paused for a a second and said, \u201cWell, in this job, your feet are going to hurt.\u201d<\/p>\n
There it was.\u00a0 I had to accept it.\u00a0 In this job, it was important for me to accept that my feet would experience pain every day, even after the callouses hardened and my body was in better shape.\u00a0 Like the woman at the bus stop, it was important to acknowledge that my feet hurt, but probably just as important to realize there was no practical way to avoid it short of finding another job.<\/p>\n
Accepting harsh realities of anything helps me endure them.\u00a0 Part of being present is understanding what is happening in the present moment and not necessarily wishing for something else, but accepting it how it is.\u00a0 It may seem like settling, but it\u2019s more like contentment than anything.\u00a0 I\u2019m not trying to fool myself into liking it, I\u2019m just acknowledging the reality so that I don\u2019t invest all of my energy in regret and avoidance.<\/p>\n
Leaning into pain<\/em> is one of the topics I talk about in my new book, \u201cBeing \u2013 A Journey Toward Presence and Authenticity<\/a>.\u201d\u00a0 If we do not face the painful parts of our life, we find ourselves avoiding and numbing our way through everything.\u00a0 Leaning into the painful parts builds courage and strength even though it makes us feel vulnerable.<\/p>\n I told someone at work yesterday, \u201cMy feet hurt,\u201d much like the lady at the bus stop.\u00a0 They immediately tried to find me a solution, but I reminded them that I\u2019m 56 and it\u2019s probably just one of the realities of working there.\u00a0 She just kind of nodded in agreement and for a moment acknowledged my resolve to \u201cbe with\u201d the pain we all experience on the assembly line.<\/p>\n Part of me wants to wish for pain-free existences and another part of me knows it is often necessary.\u00a0 My hope for you is that you will be present and authentic in your struggles.\u00a0 Sometimes, this even helps the pain diminish because we become accustomed to the activity.<\/p>\n I do hope that we don\u2019t create pain for ourselves or others.\u00a0 There is enough that is inevitably part of our existence.\u00a0 We don\u2019t need to cause more than is necessary.<\/p>\n I want to be brave enough to admit, \u201cmy feet hurt,\u201d and authentic enough to be where I am with integrity.\u00a0 I\u2019m not looking for magic ways of escape even though the path may change in the near future.\u00a0 \u201cThis is where I am today,\u201d is enough to navigate most painful paths I have to walk.\u00a0 It\u2019s not giving up to accept where I am \u2014 It is presence.<\/p>\n Be where you are, Be who you are,<\/p>\n Karl Forehand<\/p>\n \u00a0 In a scene from the movie,\u00a0Forest Gump,\u00a0Forest is talking to a young women that appears to be a nurse at a bus stop.\u00a0 In his typical style, he rambles from one topic to another occasionally interjecting, \u201cMomma always said\u2026\u201d\u00a0 When he notices her nursing shoes, the following dialogue ensues. Forest:\u00a0 I bet you could […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4370,"featured_media":1828,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[251,59],"tags":[73,995,998,256,70,992],"class_list":["post-1817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pain","category-presence","tag-authenticity","tag-contentment","tag-feet","tag-pain","tag-presence","tag-struggle"],"yoast_head":"\nOrder Being: A Journey Toward Presence and Authentic<\/a><\/h4>\n
Karl Forehand is a former pastor, podcaster, and award-winning author. His books include Apparent Faith: What Fatherhood Taught Me About the Father\u2019s Heart and The Tea Shop. He is the creator of\u00a0The Desert Sanctuary<\/a>\u00a0podcast. He is married to his wife Laura of 32 years and has one dog named Winston. His three children are grown and are beginning to multiply!<\/h5>\n
Support us on Patreon<\/a>\u00a0 *\u00a0 \u00a0The Desert Sanctuary Website<\/a><\/strong><\/h4>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"