If your sitting meditation doesn’t lead to more radical self-expression, something is missing.
First let’s talk about radical self-expression. Radical as in far-reaching and very different from the usual or traditional way. The usual or traditional way as in brainwashed or indoctrinated by modern culture to be self-conscious, overly critical/judgmental, conformed to a generally accepted norm, reserved so as to fit in and not stand out, and unsure enough to simply surrender to the groupthink of the people around. And brainwashed or indoctrinated as in via media (in all its forms), advertising, and industrialist (where training people to be cogs in a machine is the goal) systems.
Now, let’s talk about meditation. It doesn’t even have to be sitting. But what happens when you “sit” with your thoughts… is you slowly start to become aware of them. Which sounds obvious, but isn’t very widely practiced—and the difference is vast. The default is to be lost in thought. To be so consumed with information processing that it’s as though you’re being chased by a bear in the middle of unknown woods. Meditation allows you to stop running, to turn and look at the bear, realize it was just your own shadow, pull out your compass (that’s always in your pocket ready to accessed at any time), and figure out which direction is actually forward.
And if “actually” forward isn’t in the direction of more liberated, confident, care-free self-expression… then once again, something is missing.