Counselor's Corner: Bitter-Sweet By: Bill Wattenbarger, PhD In life, things happen. These events may be physical, material, relational, social or even spiritual but in every case, the first response to these experiences is emotional and comes in two flavors: sweet or bitter. We evaluate events as good or bad, pleasant or unpleasant, desirable or undesirable. We enjoy the sweetness and desire more. We seek to reduce or eliminate bitterness. We can manage mere annoyances and everyday challenges. We can treat them, adapt or just persevere. These connote some degree of overcoming. Extreme or persistent bitterness is harder to deal with. In severe times we may deny the reality. We may hope against hope that the suffering will end soon and things will be set right. We may blame the wrong thing or person. But when reality sets in, we start asking the big questions. Why is this happening? What is this supposed to mean? What good is there in my suffering? | 