Brushstrokes Need to Have a Voice

As I strive to create paintings that are full of life, full of movement, and full of emotion, I am hampered by my inability to set down a swath of paint, and leave it alone.  I tend to want to overwork, to brush the color into submission, to smooth out the stroke.  But that results in my destruction of any unique energy and emotion that I put into the brushstroke. I would like my brushstrokes to create a sensory reaction, to add visual texture. The close-up detail of a painting I am working on shows a little bit of that intent, but I am a long way from getting my paintings to go on to have a life of their own.