These Thoughts Fall Into My Mind

[DISCLAIMER]

During the summer after graduating high school, I frequently heard the electronic dance music (EDM) track “The Bomb! (These Sounds Fall into My Mind)” by the Bucketheads (Kenny Dope). Personally, the remix by Armand van Helden has a slight advantage over the original.

Featured on the Bucketheads’s 1995 album All in the Mind, the track samples Chicago’s song “Street Player” from their 1979 album Chicago 13. This is where confusion about lyrics of “The Bomb! (These Sounds Fall into My Mind)” often occurs. According to one source:

The lyrics have a single line “these sounds fall into my mind”, which repeats throughout the entire song. This line is also the subtitle of the song, which is actually considered a mondegreen; the actual lyric taken from the sample is “Street sounds swirling through my mind...”

Per one source, “A mondegreen is a mishearing or misinterpretation of a phrase in a way that gives it a new meaning.” I’ve heard people singing the Chicago lyrics (street sounds swirling though my mind), and others singing that of the Bucketheads (these sounds fall into my mind).

When thinking about how easily misinterpretation occurs, I consider the function of thoughts. Per the American Psychological Association, a thought is the process of thinking; an idea, image, opinion, or other product of thinking; attention or consideration given to something or someone.

Noteworthy one source correctly states, “We are aware of our thoughts, so in that sense they are real. And yet, our thoughts do not exist outside of our awareness. There is nowhere else where the thought that is appearing to you at this moment is actually occurring.”

Addressing these curious mental expressions, I stated in a blogpost entitled Automatic Thoughts and Beliefs that “an automatic thought can pop into a person’s head, remain for a fleeting moment, and suddenly disappear.” After that brief period, the thought may never again occur.

That’s what I now think of when hearing “The Bomb! (These Sounds Fall into My Mind)”. In my head, a mondegreen plays on, “These thought fall into my mi-eee-iii-eee-iiindd.” I invite you to listen to the track and see whether or not a similar experience occurs for you.

In any event, I relate this matter to the practice of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), in regard to the ABC model which illustrates that when an Action occurs and you Believe something about it, it’s your conviction about the event that causes an unpleasant Consequence.

Whereas a thought is merely a fleeting idea, a Belief is a thought that you strongly hold as true and that influences your Consequences. One of these unpleasant outcomes relates to rumination. According to the American Psychiatric Association:

Rumination involves repetitive thinking or dwelling on negative feelings and distress and their causes and consequences. The repetitive, negative aspect of rumination can contribute to the development of depression or anxiety and can worsen existing conditions.

When a person who is in a depressed mood ruminates, they are more likely to “remember more negative things that happened to them in the past, they interpret situations in their current lives more negatively, and they are more hopeless about the future.”

The preoccupation with problems also makes it difficult to move beyond to allow for a focus on problem solving. Even in people without depression or anxiety, rumination can contribute to negative emotions. This can become a cycle where the more a person ruminates, the worse they feel, which then contributes to more rumination.

An example of rumination would be if a high school graduate is suddenly faced with adult obligations (Action) and Believes, “I can’t stand having to pay bills, and life shouldn’t be this hard!” As a result of these convictions, the graduate begins to ruminate (Consequence).

For instance, “I can’t afford car insurance. I can’t afford gas! How am I supposed to go out and find a job when I can’t even purchase gas to put into my car which is uninsured? Without a job, I can’t afford a place to stay. With no ability to rent an apartment, how will I make it as an adult?”

The ABC model uses Disputation of unhelpful Beliefs in order to opt for Effective new beliefs. Without challenge to self-disturbing convictions, rumination can form a mental chain link by which a cycle of negativistic thoughts morphs into Beliefs which cause more Consequences.

Ultimately, these thoughts fall into my mind. However, I don’t have to Believe them. Neither do you. Therefore, I invite you to dismisses unhelpful thoughts as little more than mental static and Dispute unfavorable Beliefs. Otherwise, you’re in for a ruminating Ferris wheel of despair!

If you’re looking for a provider who tries to work 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 try 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 trying to help you to feel better, I want to try to help you get better!

Deric Hollings, LPC, LCSW

Photo credit, fair use

References:

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