I’ve been thinking a lot about this idea of “inner energy.” The kind you feel when you deliberately hold back from certain behaviors. When you stop engaging in something that normally gives quick reward. There’s this buildup. Restlessness. Sharpness. Sometimes clarity. Sometimes agitation. It feels like something is accumulating. It’s very tempting to call that energy. Across traditions, people have called it life force, rising current, awakened flow. And honestly, I understand why. The experience is intense. It doesn’t feel neutral. It feels directional. But I’ve been trying to separate what I feel from what might actually be happening. When I refrain from certain rewarding activities, I notice a kind of pressure building internally. Thoughts become more persistent. Motivation spikes. There’s a sense of being “charged.” But if I step back and look at it clinically, what might be happening is simpler: my reward system is not getting what it expects. Dopamine circuits are sensitized. At...