Doing Things Badly

"The things you do badly are as much part

of your style as the things you do well.”

Martin Scorsese

I've always heard people say that Bob Dylan can't sing. He won the Nobel Prize, among countless other accolades. I guess a lot of people like his style.

I've always thought I couldn't sing very well. At some point, I decided it didn't matter as long as I enjoyed it. I learned I sounded OK when I sang something I wrote...I mean, who could sing it better?

What have you created that is all you, shows your style, regardless of how it stacks up to some luminary's work you've always wished you could match?

What kind of relationships do you have, that show your style together, that don't seem to live up to the ideal in all the articles by relationship experts?

What political views do you have that are a mishmash and lack ideological purity, but are thoughtful reflections on each particular issue and have evolved over time?

What sorts of foods or dishes do you make that don't comply with any particular recipe or traditional cuisine but still have become comfort food and nourish your body and soul?

What kind of discomfort do you actually enjoy and find rejuvenating?

I like to take cold showers.

They're where I do a lot of singing.

[The man on the right is my great-grandfather and namesake, Martin, with his best friend in 1954.]

Free Solar Energy Now Available!

Free Solar Energy

Now Available!

(And Happy Circadian Awareness Day!*)

OK, well, depending on where you live, maybe not right now....but it will be soon!

"Simplicity is the hallmark of truth--we should know better, but complexity continues to have a morbid attraction. When you give an academic audience a lecture that is crystal clear from alpha to omega, your audience feels cheated...The sore truth is that complexity sells better."

Edgar Dijkstra, computer scientist

Where does our energy come from?

No, not energy to run our cars and make electricity, but for our bodies.

"Duh, Marty--our food...and maybe breathing?"

OK, food provides about 1/3 of our energy, yes, but what about the remaining 2/3?

Bzzzz... time's up.

Answer: Light

"We are batteries, made of water,

charged by light."

Carrie Bennett, MS, Quantum Biology educator, health & nutrition coach.

So, it makes sense that, since the industrial revolution and the subsequent invention of artificial light, labor-saving machines, computers, and the internet etc., diseases (such as cancer) related to this radical shift from our evolutionary roots have skyrocketed. (Other culprits include industrial, factory farms and food production and the release of massive amounts of toxins into the environment, of course.)

Many people have cleaned up their diets, stopped drinking and drugging, started moving and exercising regularly, take their vitamins...and still wake up fatigued and feeling like crap.

That's often because they haven't changed their "light lifestyle."

Around 80 years ago, Albert Szent-Györgyi, the Nobel Prize-winning scientist who discovered Vitamin C, also made the groundbreaking statement: "we live by a small trickle of electricity from the sun." His discoveries and those who followed his lead showed that the engines of energy in all of our cells, mitochondria, absorb infrared and UV light to produce energy, repair cells, and improve all-around performance: physically, emotionally, and mentally. This is often called "photobiomodulation."

Natural sunlight is the best source of these frequencies of light. When light comes from artificial sources such as indoor lighting and all the screens in our lives, it is out of balance. This can confuse our body about what time of day it is and can throw off our circadian rhythm and the cascade of processes from dawn to dusk we've evolved to expect. What we need, instead, is "full spectrum" light. (There are a few enlghtened companies making full spectrum lighting for indoor use, but the vast majority of indoor lights are limited in the frequencies emitted--especially since the US government outlawed selling incandescent light bulbs in order to switch to more energy efficient LEDs. As the older folks like me remember, incandescent bulbs get hot, i.e, they produce infrared light. Most LEDs do not and, conversely, elevate blue light frequencies beyond what we get from the sun. Speaking of which...)

Ever wonder why there are no windows, no clocks, really bright lights, and (until recently) free food and booze in the Las Vegas casinos? Eventually, the Italian and Jewish mobsters who created Las Vegas (after they lost their Cuban cash cow to Castro's revolution) figured out why they were not making money hand-over fist after around 5 pm. So they used the principles of Quantum Biology (although, of course, they didn't know that's what they were doing back then) to keep people stimulated 24 hours a day (e.g., cortisol, adrenaline, dopamine). Casino crowds were metabolically compromised and, thus, cognitively vulnerable to making foolish decisions; not surprisingly, they compulsively gambled longer than they otherwise would.

Ever wonder why shift workers such as all-night nursing staff under bright lights have such high cancer rates? Or computer coders and gamers staring at screens all hours of the day and night can often be so unhealthy?

Now, some of you are no doubt thinking: "Wait--isn't being in the sun dangerous?" Don't worry, within reason, exposing your skin and eyes to the sun will not kill you. In fact, a large study of 20,518 women for 20 years showed those with the lowest amount of sun exposure died earlier than those with the most time in the sun. They concluded:

The results of this study provide observational evidence that avoiding sun exposure is a risk factor for all-cause mortality. Following sun exposure advice that is very restrictive in countries with low solar intensity might in fact be harmful to women's health.

Metabolism can also be positively influenced by light without changing what we put in our mouth. A study presented at the 2023 European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) demonstrated that people with Type-2 diabetes significantly improved from sunlight exposure with no changes in other lifestyle practices such as diet, exercise, or other interventions.

Another study of over 40,000 women found that those who kept a light or TV on at night were more likely to gain weight than those who slept in darkness.

What about acute, life threatening conditions and sun exposure? Roger Seheult, MD, a doctor in internal medicine, lung health, critical care, and sleep medicine tells a story about 15 year old boy he met early in his career. The boy was in the hospital with cancer and a deadly lung infection. He was given 2 days to live by the physicians Seheult worked under. When asked for his dying wish, he exclaimed he wanted to "go outside!" The doctors and nurses only agreed to grant his wish because they felt sorry for him. They were soon astonished to discover that, after those 2 days, not only was he still alive, but his blood markers and scans were improving. They kept bringing him outdoors each day, and he left the hospital not long afterward.

This should really come as no surprise. Hippocrates, "the Father of Medicine, treated disease with sunlight. By the early 1900s, physicians and medical facilities practiced "heliotherapy" to treat tuberculosis (Click here for a short but enlightening heliotherapy history lesson). Along with other effective treatments for illnesses (e.g., Methylene Blue), it fell out of favor as the pharmaceutical industry grew in size and influence.

"A good night's sleep starts when you wake up."

Here's a brief protocal to consider for taking advantage of this ancient, free source of health and vitality:

• 10-15 minutes in the sunlight at sunrise or within 30 minutes of waking up (cloudy days don't matter). This tells your brain what time of day and year it is, sets your circadian rhythm for the day, increases energy (cortisol), and improves metabolism.
• Take time during midday for sun exposure. UV-A frequencies for serotonin production (controlling mood and appetite) and nitric oxide release; UV-B frequencies for Vitamin D production (much better than from supplements) and endorphin release (pain modulation and elevation of mood).
• Spend some time outside at sunset to tell your brain to start winding down.

In other words, more healthy light during the day, less or dimmer light in the evening, and darkness during sleep (I wear a sleep mask, for example).

"Sleep is our competitor."

Netflix

Blue blocking glasses can help mitigate the unbalanced light from indoor lights and screens (computers, smartphones, TVs, etc.). Yellow lenses during the day, Amber lenses at sunset, Red lenses 1-2 hours before bed (the red ones always make me drowsy). [See below for some recommendations for the glasses.] Energy, sleep, and metabolism should all improve in days or a few weeks.

My health and habits have been better than average for most of my adult life, but when I learned about these principles of Quantum Biology, I changed my habits and I'm sleeping much better, I feel better, and I have more energy. My blood panels and other health markers also improved.

During the winter, I still get my sunrise walks in (in the past, I didn't care if my morning walks were before sunrise), and I use red light therapy panels and an infrared sauna regularly. My ancestors were northern European (I'm about a "3" on the Fitzpatrick skin type scale, a traditional but outdated classification method) and I end the summer with a nice tan; therefore, there's no need for Vitamin D supplementation during the winter because the body releases stored Vitamin D during dark months.

With regular sunlight (or the use of photobiomodulation devices), our mitochondria can produce plenty of energy. Therefore, I now find that the reports I've come across of people going months (even years) without food are becoming more believable; I'm not going to try it to those extremes anytime soon, but fasting is part of my life now.

So, what's your relationship to the sun? Scared shitless about burning and wearing a hazmat suit outdoors on sunny days? Or maybe you're a fanatical sun worshipper who burns regularly?

Experts in Quantum Biology don't recommend either one.

If in the first category, start slow. For people who burn easily, sunrise infrared exposure (there's no UV at that time of day) prepares the skin for UV later on and protects against potentially harmful effects. Infrared light exposure at or around sunrise as well as short stints in the sun, overall, can build your "sun callus" and make you more resilient and less prone to burning. Basically, use common sense for "safe sunning" (sorry, couldn't resist). (The link to the heliotherapy history lesson above has more information on safe sun exposure.)

If in the 2nd category, if you're prone to overexposure: back off. You're not getting the benefits if you overdo it and you risk skin damage. Not fun.

Word of Caution: mainstream medicine and dermatology get lots of press warning of the dangers of sun exposure and misrepresenting the dangers and mortality risks of skin cancer. Seems I can't go more than a week or two before another article pops up in my news feed with all the standard warnings (not to mention ending with affilicate marketing ads for sunscreen). In fact, one appeared in The Atlantic just a week ago. Like most baby boomers, I grew up on this dogma and more or less avoided getting plenty of sun exposure after age 30 or so.

"Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed.”

Francis Bacon

Anyway: Get Outside! Sun or no sun exposure, getting out of the artificial light and into natural surroundings has many health benefits. Trees, plants, gardens, wilderness, flowing water, clear lakes, the ocean, and fresh air will help cure what ails you. My clients who have taken these perspectives and practices to heart report suprisingly positive results.

To track frequencies of sunlight year round in order to plan your time outdoors, try one of these apps: MyCircadianApp (has both a free and paid version) or the free Circadian app.

Here are some good sources of blue blocking glasses (and related products). Note: I do not have any financial relationship with any of these companies. If that ever changes, I will disclose it.

Vivarays have my favorite blue blocker glasses, but are probably the most expensive. But watch the video with “Roudy,” the founder, on their website; they also have some good articles on the topic.

The cheapest blue blockers that still work:

Spectra 479

Some other options I’ve run across:

* Circadian Awareness Day?! This was posted on 7/24...get it?)

Foolish Consistencies

“The strongest force in the human personality is the need to stay consistent in how we define ourselves.”

Tony Robbins

In my recent post, Breaking Out of a Category, I discussed how questioning the "existing reality" or status quo will most likely invite resistance.

To take this further, how about the personal challenges Vito Acconci's statement in that post implies: “I’m using art as a means of changing myself, as a means of breaking out of a category"?

Is Tony Robbins correct? Is staying consistent in how we define ourselves the strongest force shaping our identity and behavior? Or does it depend on our age, experience, and social life or status? Many well-known artists changed their identity, approach, or artistic style (e.g., David Bowie). Some got away with it (e.g., Prince), some were lambasted by many of their biggest fans (e.g., Bob Dylan when he "went electric.")

“There are two kinds of people in the world… and who is not both of them? ”

James Richardson

Friends and family can be the most resistant to changes in how we define ourselves. The LGBTQIA+ community is no stranger to this, of course. (For a wonderful documentary on how early Hollywood snuck in non-conforming characters, check out "The Celluloid Closet.") There are often unwritten rules in families, groups of friends, and work environments to keep to your defined role and expected behavior. There's been much ink spilled in recent years about how the pandemic alienated people from their friends and family when expectations for agreement weren't met.

“The patient inherit everything the impatient leave behind.”

Shane Parish

I've been guilty of lazily adhering to expectations of people I've known for decades; it's a huge relief to recognize it in a relationship and open my mind and heart to the person who's in front of me and not the image I've crafted over the years. They may or may not meet my stereotyped expectations, but at least a "beginner's mind" gives me a chance to explore possibilities and break out of the categories.

Have you broken out of a category? Have you reconsidered your expectations of someone you know well (or thought you knew well)?

Have you tried "making it up as you go along"?

(Feel free to share how it went--for good or ill--in the comments.)

“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. Speak what you think now in hard words, and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said today. - ‘Ah, so you shall be sure to be misunderstood.’ -- Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson in “Self-Reliance”

Breaking Out of a Category

“Discovery consists in seeing what everyone else has seen and thinking what no one else has thought.”

Albert Szent-Gyorgi

Bernie Sanders appeared on Joe Rogan’s podcast two weeks ago, 6/24/25. At first glance, it would be easy to wonder why Joe would invite a “socialist” and why Bernie would agree to go on a tattooed,-martial arts fighter-gym-bro’s show. In fact, they agreed on most of the issues they discussed. Before I listened, I didn’t agree with them on everything, yet I came away respecting them both more than I expected. One liberal person I told about this was shocked I’d ever give Joe the time of day.

A few years back when I heard Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s interview on one of my favorite podcasts, I was prepared to hear validation of the medical establishment’s criticisms. In fact, I agreed with him on his critique of most issues. And, as much as I dislike Trump (and Biden, and the Clintons, and Obama, and…), I’m glad RFK is throwing a wrench into the medical/Big Food/Big Ag/Big Pharma/FDA/NIH industrial complex (you know, the sources of our health crises). I don’t agree with everything he says or does, but at least there’s an opportunity for real change when, prior to 2025, there was little to none.

The pushback against RFK is over-the-top and full of dis- or mis-information. The establishment is just beside themselves and just as reactionary as their political or policy enemies. The new Democratic Party’s candidate for mayor of New York City, Zohran Mamdani, who just beat the establishment candidate, Andrew Cuomo, two weeks ago, is also getting massive pushback by the establishment political world and the mainstream media (God forbid a Muslim and socialist should hold office in our country!).

“I’m using art as a means of changing myself, as a means of breaking out of a category.“

Vito Acconci

I’ve started to get pushback on a few things such as my opinions on…you guessed it, the establishment medical perspectives and practices and the slightest indication I’m not on board with someone’s favorite influencer, no matter how innocuous or tongue-in-cheek my comments are intended. Or about my criticisms of the mental health field and my use of “The Un-Dr.” pseudonym. Reactionaries read into what a perceived enemy says or writes, then they tend to exaggerate, ignore inquiry, put forth a straw man,” and/or make direct or indirect ad hominem attacks.

Of course, it’s to be expected. Joe, Bernie, and RFK expect it and didn’t get to where they are today avoiding controversy at all costs.

“The crisis consists precisely in the fact that the old is dying and the new cannot be born; in this interregnum, a great variety of morbid symptoms appear.”

Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937)

“Reformers should take warning from that Austrian general who had great contempt for Napoleon. While it was true that Napoleon consistently defeated him, it was done counter to the laws of military strategy!“

Stuart Chase, The Tyranny of Words, 1938

I don’t think you have to agree with everything I write to find value in following my work here. I don’t think I have to avoid or automatically dismiss your criticisms to find value in your presence or contributions here, either.

I do invite you to see people, opinions, and perspectives very different from your own as an opportunity instead of a threat. As a source of hormetic stress that can help us grow and change. We might still disagree with someone and even fight what they represent, but at least we’ll be better prepared if we know their arguments well.

“The challenge of modernity is to live life without illusions and without becoming disillusioned… I’m a pessimist because of intelligence, but am an optimist because of will.”

Antonio Gramsci (1891- 1937)

For example, in graduate school, the faculty put us through a wonderful exercise. They had around 40 or so students identify as 1. supporters of the biomedical approach to mental health (e.g., such as using drugs for mental health challenges), 2. neither for or against that approach, and 3. against the biomedical approach that predominates the field. Then the students in category #2 were assigned to be the judges of a debate. Then came the twist: Categories #1 and #3 had to argue the other side! We had some time to prepare and then debate. (As you might guess, I was in group #3.) Group #3 demonstrated superior knowledge of Group #1’s perspectives and won the debate. Group #1’s statements showed an embarrassing stereotype of Group #3’s; they used cliches, generalizations, and lacked substance.

“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”

Buckminster Fuller

I don’t mean to spend all my time criticizing the “existing reality” here at Formal Rhubarb (although, obviously, I’m going to do some of that); I want to help you consider new models and perspectives on many things in order to assist you and be successful in…wait for it….”making it up as you go along.” And maybe you’ll occasionally find some of it entertaining!

What Do I Think?

If you fail to practice your art, it will soon disappear.
German proverb

Are you practicing your art?

Has it disappeared?

Each post on this blog reveals more to me.

Let me see what I wrote so I know what I think.
W.H. Auden