The Origin of TWM – Revisited – That Which Matters

I started writing this blog in Jan 2023, and the first post was titled The Origin of TWM.

In that post, I talked about the three inspirations that led me to start this blog:

Goethe’s quote, which gave TWM its name
Being a father
A book by Arthur C. Brooks on transitioning into the second half of life

Phase One

The first set of posts I wrote in early 2023 focused on my post-divorce transition — these were raw, emotional accounts of my life as a single person while trying to make meaning of what had transpired in the previous years. More than anything, it was an attempt to reclaim my love for writing, which had totally dried up and, in fact, turned into self-hate. This was the phase where I did affirmations, therapy, journaling, ballroom dancing, and started dating. Very much rooted in daily life, and trying to build something new, the blog captured the struggle and the hope of that time:

These posts were heart-wrenching to write, but they were also therapeutic. I sobbed through most of them. I was searching for a foothold to build the next stage of my life, and there was an urge to write as honestly as I could about what was happening with me.

Besides these posts, I added to the blog some previous articles I had written about the start of my teaching journey, birth of my children, and the realities of India:

I also included emails to friends I had written over an intercontinental bus trip in 1999: Denmark to India, and Back.

Overall, I thought this blog would serve as a comprehensive collection of all my writings.

Then things fell apart (again) mid 2023, I stopped writing and shut down the blog. My journaling continued, but that would remain personal and not find its way to the blog.

Phase Two

In Dec 2024, I felt a sudden inspiration to restart writing — I reinstalled the blog, and it led to a flurry of new posts of a very different nature. The first post was about my brother’s suicide — Thanks for Always Being There.

That needed to be written first because it was the elephant in the room, the reason I stopped writing after Phase One. Having mustered the courage to write it, the rest flowed more easily.

During this very difficult phase of 1.5 years, I had stopped therapy and dived deep into spiritual practices to make sense and heal from the cluster of crises that hit me in 2023, of which my brother’s passing was one. The next set of posts captured this tumultous phase:

Gradually, I found myself writing also about the unraveling of my sense of personality:

During this extended phase, I gradually found inspiration from songs as well:

Then there was one about AI and its potential impact, based on Yuval Harari’s book Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI.

I was working at two levels — deep spirituality and everyday life. They felt separate and distinct, and I was searching for a meeting point.

This phase came to an end in Jan 2026, after some musings on birthdays, lack of purpose, and a reflection on New Year’s day.

Phase Three

I did not write anyting for the first three months of 2026. I thought I had run out of things to say — any topic I thought of just did not ring true, so I let it pass. This blog only works when it writes itself.

In the meantime, I was extremely busy at work, and dating was clearly running on its last fumes.

Then three things happened a few days ago: I deleted the dating apps for good, my meditations brought a deeper clarity and someone I knew passed away. This led to a flurry of six posts (including this one) in the space of five days:

When I look back at the titles and the content of this latest set, I see that this was my first attempt to articulate my understanding of time — I am pleasantly surprised to see the clear arc that has emerged. I did not plan this sequence — they just organically led from one to the other in quick succession. There was no attempt to space them out — something urgent needed to be expressed and it did over these five posts.

This is why I trust the process: I write only when I am compelled to, and it is always stream of consciousness, with hardly any editing at all.

I feel this marks the end of Phase Three, which lasted just a week, and brings me to this post —- a revisit of the origin of TWM and why I write this blog.

While teaching at a school is my occupation, I would say this blog is my body of work. My art. Written for No One In Particular.

My blog is not a manifesto for how to live, nor is it a memoir. It’s an ever-changing narrative of a particular inner life, which might find resonance with some readers. It’s put out there as-is without judgment, and as honestly as possible. It could have remained private but it has somehow refused to do so.

I am not trying to be consistent or live towards an ideal without contradiction. Neither can I help any wisdom that seemingly arises. The place of rest is the Stillness within, and it’s the origin of everything. When things seem to get out of sync, it’s not with an idea of how things should be but with Stillness itself.

What’s in my hands is to sit quietly, live inside out from awareness, return to forgiveness and gratitude meditations, meet my responsibilities as best as I can, not harm others, and be restrained. Attend to That Which Matters. Beyond that, it is about meeting life as openly and intelligently as possible, whatever shape it takes.

Right now, I feel like a lotus flower that has just pushed its way through the muck to break through the surface of the pond.

The next phase, if any, would have to come from a deeper rootedness in Awareness. Or from some other unexpected (hopefully not traumatic) turn that life takes.

Until then.

Featured Image: Photo by Turquo Cabbit on Unsplash