Talk about concentration! Nearly three minutes of total, unremitting, unwavering mind/body focus. Staring down death. Moving forward while absorbing and responding to atmospheric conditions — moving air, shifting vibrations in the wire. Notice how he grounds his entire body to the wire through his softly sliding feet.

Wire-walking since he was two years old, Nik Wallenda is the seventh generation to make this moment-by-moment death-defying feat his life path.

May we all realize, with Nik, that every moment could be our last! Yes, Death does “concentrate the mind.”

“It was way more windy [than expected], and the movement of the cable, the sidewalls, as I was walking, were getting in the way and were confusing me as the pendulums were swinging against them. So I tried to react and when I react, I take the rhythm into the cable. It took every bit of me to stay focused that entire time. My arms are aching like you’d never believe.”