I'm finding that the quality of my experience is proportionate to how much I express for myself, for me - and, actually, for me alone! Then I can share the output - with joy.

Amen to that!

You expressed well thoughts that I have had myself. In fact, I loaded up your post, saw its length and said to myself: 'this needs coffee'. As I waited for the kettle to boil, without watching it of course, I found myself thinking about how this platform has given me a voice. And there you go mentioning that very same thing.

What you said about sharing for yourself first is exactly how AA meetings work. I found my way back to meetings at the end of last year after a 3-year absence and it felt like I'd never been away. It's the one place on earth where it feels like we're sharing ourselves openly and honestly, perhaps because the stakes are so high if we don't. Another member commented after a recent share of mine that it was really good to have me back because what I share helps him. I guess I'd kinda forgotten that. They say that you have to give it away to keep it, and I've always liked that idea.

I share in meetings for me. More often than not I have no idea what I'm going to say, so I just introduce myself and maybe pick up on something someone else has said that triggered something in my memory and then just let the words come out. When I leave the meeting and walk home, I always feel cleansed, you know, with the universal connection opened up again with much less interference. It soon creeps back though. You seem to be working on keeping your connection interference free and I love following your meanderings and experience with that. Keep speaking your peace, my friend. I'm listening.