Recently, I was listening to a DJ set from Kris May and heard the track “Free Your Mind” by Miles From Mars. In repetition, the lyrics state, “Free your mind.” I enjoyed the set and track while also reflecting upon an interview from the late and legendary Bruce Lee who stated:
Empty your mind. Be formless, shapeless, like water. Now, you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.
The Miles From Mars track invites the listener to free one’s mind. Lee offers similar encouragement in regard to emptying one’s mind. Personally, both propositions are incredibly difficult – if not outright impossible – to accomplish for more than a few transient moments.
One technique used in the general psychotherapeutic modality of cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) that aims to free or empty one’s mind is thought-stopping which one source suggests is “a cognitive self-control skill that can be used to counter dysfunctional or distressing thoughts, by interrupting sequences or chains of problem responses.”
I recall that during graduate (grad) school for social work one of my educational peers, a yogini, led the class in a guided mediation. She invited everyone to close our eyes, tighten and relax various muscle groups, and she eventually proposed that we attempt to clear our minds.
Apparently, my peer didn’t know her audience all that well. At the time, there was an electronic dance music (EDM) festival of music blaring in my mind. It was as though, perhaps on an unconscious level, my mind was actively resisting her instruction.
To properly illustrate that moment in time, it was as though Kris May was conducting her set – with all the vigor and excitement with which she approaches her craft of DJing – and I was merely along for the experience. Unfortunately, the yogini who led the meditation wasn’t pleased.
She ostensibly self-disturbed with what I presume were irrational beliefs about how I demandingly should, must, or ought to have followed her every instruction. By that point in my educational career, I was well aware that my peer’s issue wasn’t one of my own making.
This is because I studied rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT) during my time in grad school for counseling. Interestingly, REBT is a form of CBT though the former doesn’t use the thought-stopping technique of the latter.
According to one source, in regard to the thought-stopping tool, “It’s an approach that’s been around for 50-plus years, and some CBT practitioners still teach thought-stopping skills and recommend the practice. But in recent times, experts suggest this technique often doesn’t work.”
Following the yogini’s guided meditation period of instruction, I was promptly reported to the adjunct professor of the class. When asked to attend office hours, the faculty member informed me that my peer was displeased with what she perceived to have been my willful defiance.
The adjunct professor expressed to me that she invited the yogini to consider that I’d previously self-reported to the class my issues with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder. This revelation apparently pacified my peer.
Of course, the matter wasn’t a reportable offense and I merely viewed the event as little more than an annoyance and waste of my time. Thus, I was able to practice the REBT technique of unconditional acceptance – which, unlike thought-stopping, actually works.
When hearing “Free Your Mind,” the laughable event from my time in grad school for social work succeeded the reminder of Bruce Lee’s encouragement. Alas, for better, worse, or otherwise, this is how my mind works and I’m altogether unable to free it. And that’s okay.
If you’re looking for a provider who works to help you understand how thinking impacts physical, mental, emotional, and behavioral elements of your life, I invite you to reach out today by using the contact widget on my website.
As the world’s foremost EDM-influenced REBT psychotherapist—promoting content related to EDM, I’m pleased to help people with an assortment of issues from anger (hostility, rage, and aggression) to relational issues, adjustment matters, trauma experience, justice involvement, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety and depression, and other mood or personality-related matters.
At Hollings Therapy, LLC, serving all of Texas, I aim to treat clients with dignity and respect while offering a multi-lensed approach to the practice of psychotherapy and life coaching. My mission includes: Prioritizing the cognitive and emotive needs of clients, an overall reduction in client suffering, and supporting sustainable growth for the clients I serve. Rather than simply helping you to feel better, I want to help you get better!
Deric Hollings, LPC, LCSW
Photo credit (edited), fair use
References:
Digital Structures. (2020, September 20). Miles From Mars - Free Your Mind (Original mix) [Video]. YouTube. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/aUEyHkGoVLI?si=vFp3ebPPEyORbI7u
Freepik. (n.d.). Representation of collective mind process and concept in digital art style [Image]. Retrieved from https://www.freepik.com/free-ai-image/representation-collective-mind-process-concept-digital-art-style_236260385.htm#fromView=search&page=1&position=0&uuid=5a4ab851-c1df-40c9-9813-86a7709cf1bb
Hollings, D. (2024, May 19). Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT). Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/cognitive-behavior-therapy-cbt
Hollings, D. (2022, October 31). Demandingness. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/demandingness
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Hollings, D. (2023, September 8). Fair use. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/fair-use
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Hollings, D. (2024, October 20). Unconditional acceptance redux. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/unconditional-acceptance-redux
Hollings, D. (2022, August 8). Was Freud right? Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/was-freud-right
Kris May. (2023, December 6). Kris May @ Tbilisi (Chronicle of Georgia) [Melodic techno/ Progressive house Dj mix] HD 1080p [Video]. YouTube. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/RR-7_0DKQgY?si=dRF5WIxJbIeAT-9z
McBride, T. L. (2013, August 14). Bruce Lee be as water my friend [Video]. YouTube. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/cJMwBwFj5nQ?si=lwi5xHqu_LkF5Myd
McKay, D., Abramowitz, J., and Storch, E. (2019). Ineffective and potentially harmful psychological interventions for obsessive-compulsive disorder. International OCD Foundation. Retrieved from https://iocdf.org/expert-opinions/ineffective-and-potentially-harmful-psychological-interventions-for-obsessive-compulsive-disorder/
Raypole, C. (2020, August 31). Why thought-stopping techniques don’t work (and what to try instead). Healthline. Retrieved from https://www.healthline.com/health/mental-health/thought-stopping
SoundCloud. (n.d.). Miles From Mars. Retrieved from https://soundcloud.com/milesfromars
SoundCloud. (n.d.). Kris May. Retrieved from https://soundcloud.com/krismay_dj
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Wikipedia. (n.d.). Thought stopping. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thought_stopping
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