The Emotional Lava Lamp

Photo by jacob rollins on Unsplash

Finding Flow After Retirement (and Before)

I’ve been thinking about how much life changes after full retirement. And just to be clear, I’m not there yet. After a short pause away from the grind for a couple of years, I returned to the world of the working class. Haha.

Before retirement, life often feels like an endless stream of schedules and task lists — all of which we don’t have much control over. Our personal clocks tick to the rhythm of the working world.

And that made me think about my emotions. For years they felt like being in a wind tunnel — fast, furious, and relentless. These days? They’ve taken on the slower, steady likeness of a lava lamp.

From Wind Tunnel to Lava Lamp

In the working years, everything piles up. But now, presence allows us to notice — and noticing changes everything.

Like a lava lamp, emotions still shift and morph, but the difference is: I can watch them. I can feel them. I can see their shapes and appreciate what rises.

“Feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky. Conscious breathing is my anchor.”

— Thích Nhất Hạnh

And What of Our Heat Source?

Here’s the catch: a lava lamp without heat is just static. Beautiful, but unmoving. So too with us — our energy, creativity, skills, and wisdom can just sit there, dormant, unless something stirs them.

Our heat source is presence. Attention. Choosing to live deliberately. It’s no longer about catching up on the pile of things we “have to do” — it’s about creating a pile of new experiences, skills, and creative courage that shape our days into what we never thought possible.

The Flow of Creativity

With warmth, our flow — like that of the lava lamp — becomes slow, steady, and surprising.

We don’t have to control the shape. We don’t need to plan outcomes. What rises before us can astonish us if we’re paying attention.

“The creative process is a process of surrender, not control.”

— Julia Cameron

The Mystery

The lava lamp reminds us: we don’t know the destination of each new form. That’s the beauty. The process is itself the point.

We don’t have to force certainty. We simply need to stay present enough to witness what’s already unfolding.

“Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced.”

— Søren Kierkegaard

The Secret — You Don’t Have to Wait

There’s no need to wait until retirement is knocking at the door. You can start today. Live slowly. Live deliberately. Trust that with a little warmth and attention, what really matters will rise.

We are not meant to stay cold and dormant. We are meant to warm, to rise, and to create the kind of flow that doesn’t need certainty — only a quiet confidence that we can meet what’s coming.

“And once the storm is over, you won’t remember how you made it through. You won’t be the same person who walked in. That’s what the storm is all about.”

— Haruki Murakami

And You?

So let me ask: What is your heat source?

Talk soon…

G