Know Thyself
E146 - Cory Muscara: Former Monk: “Stop Missing Your Life!” Here’s the Key To Lasting Happiness
13 May 2025
Cory Muscara shares profound insights on achieving lasting happiness and fulfillment in the present moment. He discusses his transformative journey from awakening to monastic life, emphasizing the importance of breaking free from cycles of internal distress. Muscara challenges common misconceptions about meditation, urging listeners to confront rather than escape emotional pain. Throughout the episode, he offers practical strategies for tuning into inner wisdom and strengthening intuitive knowing. Try Pique Life tea and save 20% for life & get a free frother:https://www.piquelife.com/KnowThyselfAndrés Book Recs: https://www.knowthyself.one/books___________0:00 Intro 1:39 Stop Missing Your Life9:00 Finding Fulfillment in the Present Moment13:43 Awakening & Becoming a Monk25:32 Breaking the Cycle of Internal Distress32:41 Stop Meditating Your Way Out of Emotional Pain41:40 AD: Pique Life Save 20% for Life45:46 The FACE Model - 4 Steps to Presence 51:04 Truth About Self Love57:13 The Desire for Safety Controls Your Life1:00:36 Practice to Tune Into Your Inner Knowing1:06:53 Commitment & Romantic Relationships1:27:42 Strengthening Your Intuitive Knowing1:31:25 IFS Process for Healing Stuck Parts of Yourself1:53:43 Finding Stability in Surrender1:58:00 Conclusion ___________Episode Resources: https://corymuscara.comhttps://www.instagram.com/corymuscara/https://www.instagram.com/andreduqum/https://www.instagram.com/knowthyself/https://www.youtube.com/@knowthyselfpodcasthttps://www.knowthyself.oneListen to the show:Spotify: https://spoti.fi/4bZMq9lApple: https://apple.co/4iATICX
Full Episode
The belief that there is a future moment more worth our presence than the one we're in right now is why we miss our lives. I was 22 when I went to live in the monastery. A few days in, I was like crying in my bed, wanting to leave because I did not yet have the capacity to be with everything that was arising.
Most of our negative patterns, relationship woes, insecurities, they are not the result of not having enough will, energy, or patience. They are the result of old, stuck pain.
If you're someone struggling with this and you feel like there's something in me that comes up, I would start by, and this is where so many spiritual practitioners get stuck, is do you believe you are fundamentally whole or do you feel like you are fundamentally broken? If you are fundamentally whole, then your practice is about subtraction.
My direct experience has been we are fundamentally whole. And that is why I often say you need to descend if you want to transcend.
Corey Muscara. Thanks for being here, dude. Thanks, Andre. Yeah. One of my greatest joys on this podcast is getting to see these different individuals online who are sharing similar inspiring content around meditation, mindfulness, spirituality, and getting to connect in person and feel like, oh, we're going to be great friends off the bat. Yeah, likewise.
Yeah, it's really cool to dig into your story too and see your life as a former monk and becoming a best-selling author, cultivating quite the audience online and proliferating wisdom in these modern times. Something that really resonates with me, also the name of your book titles is this idea of like how we can stop missing our lives
think as you start to realize what a gift this life is, you realize to the degree we've been unconscious for so much of it and living life through the perception of our own conditioning. So that phrasing of like, stop missing your life really resonates with me because I feel like
for many different periods of my life, I've been keenly aware of the passing of time and how aware I am and present I am during those periods and the times that I really haven't been. And it's painful to realize those times you haven't been because you see what a gift this life is. And so what comes to mind when you hear that phrasing, stop missing your life?
And why was that so kind of motivating for you?
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