When Twitter went downhill, I wasn’t sure what to “do” about social media. Many of the authors and artists I followed fled the platform, and my feed became a cesspool of vile posts from accounts I was not following. Though my Twitter/X feed has become more sane, I rarely go there anymore. The company dismantled […] The post No More Building on Sand appeared first on J.D. Moyer ..read more

I put out the message on all my social media channels but forgot to post here until now. If you’re in the Bay Area and looking for something to do today, I’ll be reading at Passionate Feast Vintage & Book in Crockett at around 2pm. I’ve chosen an excerpt from The Last Crucible (Book 3 […] The post Reading in Crockett appeared first on J.D. Moyer ..read more

Sometime in my forties I realized that all major choices could be boiled down to two paths: Empowering action (research/planning/implementation) Passive paralysis (inaction, worry, pathological perfectionism, denial, etc.) And yet all too often, I still catch myself taking the second, objectively worse path. Why? Because empowering action requires the expenditure of energy, mental focus, and […] The post How to More Easily Use Your Own Power appeared first on J.D. Moyer ..read more

Often when something good happens to me, I just take it in stride. I don’t want to get too excited about any particular success because fortune rises and falls. Everything that goes up must come down. And even if the general trend in any particular area is up/good/optimistic, I often find myself anticipating or worrying […] The post Take Your Wins appeared first on J.D. Moyer ..read more

We recently moved to a new place in San Francisco, which created a cascade of to-do items. The move coincided with the death of my mother-in-law and our daughter starting a new school–three big life changes at once. It’s been a challenging time, but I’ve managed to not drop too many balls, even in the […] The post What I’m Doing to Stay Organized in 2024 appeared first on J.D. Moyer ..read more

My mother-in-law passed away recently. I had a good relationship with her, despite the fact that we were both stubborn people with frequently divergent opinions. Alta was a poet, famous in some circles for both her poetry and her press. Andrew Gilbert has written an outstanding obituary on kqed.org that really does her justice. Though […] The post Alta (She Made History) appeared first on J.D. Moyer ..read more

Just a quick post here to announce a new album: Jondi & Spesh – REFLECTIONS This is my sixth full-length electronic album with my longest-term collaborator and one of my closest friends, DJ Spesh. Way back in the day we hopped on a young genre called “progressive house” and rode it a long way. Spesh […] The post New Progressive House/Deep House Jondi & Spesh Album appeared first on J.D. Moyer ..read more

I have the GG (val/val) variant in SNP rs4680, which corresponds with high COMT enzyme activity. COMT breaks down dopamine in the part of the brain related to higher cognitive and executive function. People with my COMT genetic variant tend to have a hard time sustaining attention and motivation in low-stakes situations. We tend to […] The post How I Maintain Motivation (and dopamine levels) appeared first on J.D. Moyer ..read more

In Tim Ferriss’s recent interview with Arthur Brooks, Brooks discusses the four false idols, what Thomas Aquinas called “the four substitutes for God.” Aquinas named those substitutes as honor, wealth, pleasure, and power, but Brooks uses fame as an Instagram-age stand-in for honor. In this short, Brooks uses U.S. cities to demonstrate each of the […] The post Purpose Is the Fifth Idol appeared first on J.D. Moyer ..read more

Over the course of the pandemic, I had a pervasive sense of deferment. I postponed many projects and activities with the mindset of “just trying to get through.” Which was appropriate, I think, given that the pandemic took a mental toll on me, as it did with most people. I prioritized the things that absolutely […] The post What’s Next? Post-Pandemic Expansiveness… appeared first on J.D. Moyer ..read more