Let The Great World Spin

I have just finished reading this inspiring book by Colum McCann on the wonderful story of Philippe Petit who walked on a tightrope between the twin towers. Inspiring for me because of the actions of one man & but also because it looks at the thoughts & perspectives of those people who were looking on at him.

Philippe’s rigourous training for this walk took place mostly in a quiet meadow. When he was there he would visualise the twin towers & the the city below him with its noise & distractions. When he was on the actual walk he brought himself back to the quite & peacefulness of that meadow. There was method to his madness & to his training.  He was able to use powerful visualisations to help him prepare & when doing the actual walk, keep him focused on the job at hand. But truly inspiring part for me is that Philippe had a crazy dream & he was willing to sacrifice his life to achieve it.

The other interesting piece to this is his regime of training to prepare for all scenairos (ok it was a life or death scenario so he had to!) Philippe had to prepare for all eventualities. His friends would shake the wire vigorously, he practised in all types of weather, the worst the better. One of my favoutite lines from this book is  “He laughed into the teeth of the wind”.