I have the usual troubles with talking to girls I like (AA, not knowing what to say, feeling awkward)... But I've noticed that sometimes I start a conversation on some kind of metalevel, topics would include me being shy, personal problems and all that. All of this are very personal topics and I basically let all my guards down and make myself very vulnerable. I'm not sure how this comes across but I'd guess far more genuine than had I tried to apply and PUA tactics.

Has anyone else ever noticed something like that? Meta-conversations per se and them going better than anything else? I wonder if there's a way to leverage this, maybe not the conversation and topics but applying the mindset (which at this point is completely subconcious to me) to normal conversations?