There is an “experience” inside of us that is so intimately personal that it is and remains unique.  The feelings, pictures, sensations that define our experience of life shift and flow, bringing life to our life . . . making it clear that we are alive.  This experience screams to be shared with others.  It seems that however wonderful or tragic the experience might be, we yearn to share it with others.  We want others to experience what we have seen and felt, so that they know who we are.  At that moment of sharing, we connect in a way where we are one. The desire to reveal experiences seems to be an innate part of our being — one soul reaching out of isolation to another, removing any sense of separation.

Yet, with this desire so naturally present, we grow into our adult life and struggle to successfully share the experience of who we are.  It’s like being the only one to see the most magnificent falling star.  While you were looking up, they were looking elsewhere.  Now you want them to see what you saw, but the star is gone.  Only your memory of it and the sensations of the experience are left.

We have art, music, movies, books and all sorts of creative efforts of expression to help us “bring to life” the experiences inside of us for others to share.  More than anything though, we have the capacity to develop our ability to communicate, most often through words.  We can, if we choose to, develop this ability to know ourselves and then articulate it to others.  In order to do this successfully we must be able to articulate to ourselves what we are thinking and feeling.  We must remove the reasons for resisting sharing our thoughts and feelings with others.  If we hide, or for some reason, fear the truth of what we think and feel, then we will never share it with others.  If we don’t share it, we will be destined to be lonely in our disconnected isolation.  Whatever relationships we do have will be based on the façade we have presented — one that has connected nicely with the façade of another.  Inevitably these relationships turn out to be fragile and unfulfilling.  They do not satisfy that deep desire to connect our true experience of life with that of another.

For me it has been a powerfully energizing experience to share who I am with others and connect with who they are.  It has happened with family and friends, my teammates and with people that I’ve worked.  As my ability and willingness to communicate has grown, so has the joy of sharing myself with others.  I encourage everyone to commit to learning to communicate . . . so that, when you are the only one that saw the falling star — you will be able to share that experience with others, enriching your life, as well as theirs.