Freedom and being in the moment

I found this great interview with Matt Thornton President of SBGi who is a great inspiration and influence on my training.

I especially like these excerpts from the interview:
Interviewer: Can you explain awareness?
Thornton: Awareness is consciousness free of sub-vocalization or free from thoughts in the head is pure awareness… without thinking about the past or the future. 99.9% of people on this planet will spend a majority of their waking hours thinking about the past or future – they’re lost in thought. Awareness is being free from the Maya or the illusion of reality.

To wake up from that is to wake up from a dream and be in reality as it is… to be in the here and now…

That’s just the absence of thought.

There’s nothing you can do to make that happen… because it’s the absence of doing.

Interviewer: It’s like Zen Buddhism

Thornton: ...It’s the same thing that Christ said, “What good does worry do for you?” It does nothing for you. Worry is the thought of the future [and/or] regret of the past.

Be here right now in the moment… What’s here now?

"I train in combat sports to free myself of the burdens of my reality by focusing on the task at hand..." - Me

Joe Rogan has a funny (but true) observation on the evolution of martial arts...