Former Monk Reveals How To Access And Develop Your Inner Wisdom (Cory Muscara)
Removing the layers to your deeper essence
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""If you want to let go, you first need to fall in love with the part of you that is holding on." (36:33 in this cast)
Cory Muscara is a former Monk, current author, and teacher whose meditations have been listened to over 25 million times in 150 countries in the world.
He’s also taught Mindful leadership at Columbia University, and is an instructor of Positive Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania.
In this conversation we explore how to return to your true nature and access the wisdom that's already within you.
You'll learn practical tools for distinguishing between fear-based and soul-based decisions, why letting go paradoxically requires moving closer first, and how to build trust in your inner knowing through small daily choices.
His perspective on unwinding rather than adding offers fresh insights for this journey.
This episode is great for:
Anyone who wants to reconnect with their authentic self
Those wondering how to balance spiritual growth with worldly success
People wanting practical ways to access their intuition and inner wisdom
Those ready to face what's underneath their conditioning
Ideas that really stuck out to me:
Finding your true self is an act of love, expressing it is an act of rebellion. We accumulate layers of conditioning about who we need to be to get safety, love and praise. The journey back to our authentic self requires lovingly unwinding these patterns. When we start discovering and living into our true nature, it can feel like rebellion against societal expectations.
The consciousness journey is more about unwinding patterns than adding new ones. Many of us try to optimize and add new habits, but if we're doing this from an ego foundation of not feeling good enough, we're just adding more layers to our conditioning. True transformation comes from removing what blocks our natural state.
Inner wisdom communicates differently than the ego. The ego tends to be noisy, constrictive, and operates through fear and control. True inner knowing arises with spaciousness and clarity. As Cory says, "Desires that arise in agitation are more aligned with the ego, desires that arise in stillness are more aligned with the soul."
The "waiting room" is sacred space. Sometimes the most powerful thing we can do is resist the urge to immediately act and instead sit in the discomfort of not knowing what's next, allowing deeper wisdom to emerge. This is something I have learned to do in my own life and its incredibly powerful.
Integration happens through real world engagement. While retreat experiences can be profound, our patterns need to be worked out in relationships, work, and daily life. The world becomes our teacher for discovering what still needs to be transformed when we pay attention to how we relate to daily life and the moments we’re taking out of peace.
Small experiments build trust in inner wisdom. Starting with low-stakes decisions like "tea or coffee?" helps us learn how inner knowing communicates uniquely to us. This creates a foundation for following guidance in bigger life choices.
The Paradox of Letting Go: To truly let go of something, we often need to move closer to it first, understanding what makes us hold on before release becomes possible.
What I love most about Cory's approach is how he frames this as an ongoing experiment rather than something we have to get perfectly right…just stay curious and keep experimenting!
You can start small, pay attention to what different responses feel like in your system, and gradually build trust in our inner compass. This is definitely been my path and what I teach in my course Guided Intuition, which I think I’m going to open up for self serve learning soon.
Cory has a lot of wisdom and a purity in his energy. I think he will be a strong voice in the next generation of conscious leaders teaching humanity a new way of being.
I hope you enjoy this conversation!
- Scott
If you liked reading or listening to this, feel free to click the ❤️ or 🔄 button on this post so more people can discover it on Substack 🙏
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Episode Transcript
Show notes:
00:00 - The Journey to True Self
06:06 - Unwinding Patterns of Self
11:57 - Integrating Spirituality and Daily Life
17:52 - Exploring Desires and Fulfillment
26:48 - Navigating Life's Decisions
29:36 - The Waiting Room: Embracing Uncertainty
32:45 - Attuning to Inner Wisdom
35:29 - The Paradox of Letting Go
40:54 - Surrendering to Life's Flow
46:17 - Balancing Inner Wisdom with Reality
49:37 - Practical Applications and Resources
"To truly let go, we need to move closer first"—wow, this hit home.
How often do we avoid discomfort instead of leaning in to heal?