Bittersweet

Do we have the word bittersweet in the wrong order? That's the claim of this mini podcast from John Morgan.

Grasshopper Notes are the writings from America's Best Known Hypnotherapist John Morgan. His podcasts contain his most responded to essays and blog posts from the past two decades. 

Find the written versions of these podcasts on John's podcasting site: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1628038

"The Grasshopper" is the part of you that whispers pearls of wisdom that  seem to pop into your mind from out of the blue. John's essays and blog posts are his interpretations of these "Nips of Nectar." Others have labeled his writings as timeless wisdom. 

Most of the John's writings revolve around self improvement and self help. They address topics like:

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Transcript

Bittersweet

When I consult my dictionary, I get this meaning for the word “bittersweet”: arousing pleasure tinged with sadness or pain.

That’s my experience as well. So, I think we got the word backwards. It should read “sweet-bitter.”

Any event that we react to with a bittersweet reference is at first sweet and then it turns bitter, not the other way around.

I’m sure this seems like splitting hairs to some, but for me it’s a revelation.

It suggests that it would be quite helpful if we could get a wedge between “sweet and bitter” in our life’s personal movie and leave lots of the bitter parts on the cutting room floor. 

This practice isn’t denying reality; it’s just making it more joyful. Think of any movie you’ve seen that’s “based on a true story.” It has scenes in there that never happened, but it makes the story more enjoyable. 

You get the essence of the story without it leaving a bitter taste in your mouth. 

Perhaps this is me lobbying for more happy endings, or maybe it’s me recommending an adjustment to how we approach bittersweetness. Either way, we’re left with the sweetness of the memory, instead of walking away with a heavy heart.

This isn’t ignoring the downside of life. There’s enough of that that it’s impossible to ignore. It’s more of a tweak to keep some of the dark clouds out of the scene, so that our memories are more sweet and and leave us feeling serene.

Hanging on to bitter has a cost. It will color the rest of our days with “what could have been” and leave us with feelings of chagrin.

When we put the accent on the joy a memory delivers, we become more grateful and less hateful. I guess that’s why we don’t wish someone headed off to sleep “bitter dreams.”

All the best,

John