Now on Wire

Philippe Petit walking 110 stories above the ground.

One movie that I truly loved when it came to the cinema was Man on Wire, about a tightrope walker named Philippe Petit, who walked on a wire strung between the top floors of the Twin Towers in 1974.
The thing I really liked about it was that it seemed to me to be such a powerful metaphor for living in the moment, and focusing on the now, rather than the fears of the future.

In that situation you have no choice but to focus on the now, and be positive every step of the way, or your fears will literally kill you.

A synchronicity occurred today while I was reading two totally different publications that brought my mind right back to this highly fear filled scene in the movie where

Philippe is walking between the twin towers and he is half way across, where looking back is as almost as useless as looking forward, and the present moment is the most important thing in the world right now.

The first publication was a book called

The Road to Success  by Graeme Rattigan and this is the section I was reading at the breakfast table this morning;  
"You must listen to your intuition and act on it.
Fear will prevent you from understanding your true self.
Picture a man on a tight-rope.
The rope is strung across a chasm.
Living in the present is like walking a tight-rope.
You have to keep your attention on a fixed

Philippe Petit in Paris.

point.
If you are distracted by looking to the past or to the future, you will lose balance, fall into the chasm and be consumed by doubt and fear.
Fear is an anxiety of the future, an unknown future.
All that you have is now.
It exists in this moment." 
The second publication was a life-style newspaper I picked up in Byron Bay called "Living Now", and this was the section I read at lunchtime, that also reminded me of this movie;
"If we get swallowed up by worries, we will be no good to anyone.
We have to break the malaise, know that the Spirit has it all under control, and know that we are meant to serve-and that we can serve by creating and then offering that creation in love to our fellow humans.
A fear-frozen spirit can not create.
Open your heart and allow inspiration to help you create-a cake, or a new work schedule, a song, or a building, or a prayer for those in trouble, it doesn't matter-just create and offer it with love.
Being off center means the connection with God/The  Creator / Higher Mind is lost.
The ego invests in fear to keep us

stuck.
We have huge resistance to taking the next step in our lives-which would bring us to success and happiness."

I can't think of a better poster to have hanging in front of me, to remind me to live in the moment and focus on the next step in the journey, without getting overwhelmed by all the things that might happen to me.
You have to move on by concentrating on the now.

P.S. It strikes me as an appropriate post considering today's date

(it was April 1st when I started writing this post, but by the time I had it set it was April 2nd), 
because Philippe Petit is either the bravest man on Earth, or the biggest fool.
I just can't decide which...but the world is a richer place for having such fools/heroes to take us along on their journeys.