If you just look within for the I-thought or its source, you will find only nothingness, emptiness, the Void and be convinced no Self or personal self exists, or that they are just learned concepts with no reality.
But if you feel within with loving acceptance, you will find the I Am sensation. Staying with it will lead to your sense of presence, your energy body, the unknowingness of the Causal Body, then bliss and the seeing, feeling, and becoming of your Self. This is the way of the Bhakta: feeling.
The very first time I became immersed into the "I am" sensation, the effects were amazing, with a significant feeling of freedom, confidence, joy, absence of anxiety, etc. and it lasted continuously for around two weeks or longer. But that didn't discourage me from continuing self inquiry with this kind of focus. What I've found since is that at unexpected moments, when I'm encumbered by unwanted thoughts, anxieties, stress, whatever, I can suddenly, spontaneously re-experience that wonderful feeling/sensation as if it were like a very welcome life support thrown out to me while I'm adrift in an ocean of these chaotic, turbulent waves. This would never have happened though if I'd been discouraged and gave up on self inquiry early on only because I had expectations that I should only have guaranteed positive results with it 24/7. In other words more of the "I am" inquiry I believe has led to more of these "rescues" from the periodic chaos I've just described.
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