We all face obstacles from time to time. Or challenges, if you prefer (!). 

 

Large or small. Anticipated or coming out of the blue. Necessitating a small detour or sounding the death knell for our plans and dreams. Some even seem to have a life of their own, bringing their friends with them and settling in for a party (!). 

 

Often, it’s not the obstacle itself that defeats us, but how we perceive it. And so react to it. 

 

In other words, our mindset is more important than the obstacle itself in determining how successfully we deal with it. 

Every year in America, the EWG – Environmental Working Group – releases a list of the “dirtiest” fruit and vegetables. And by this they mean contaminated with pesticides, rather than being covered in soil (!). 

 

More than 38,000 samples were taken, all of crops grown conventionally across America. Each one was then prepared in the same way as consumers would at home, ie, either by washing or peeling it before being tested. 

 

An incredible 230 different pesticides and pesticide residues were found in the different samples. 70% of the samples tested positive for pesticide contamination, with 98% of the top 6 most contaminated products – see the list below – containing at least one pesticide residue. 

We were reminded of this truism a few days ago as we listened to someone – who had better remain nameless (!) – describing in great detail how they’d recently “put someone right”. We won’t go into details but are sure you’ve listened to similar stories in the past. And, probably, secretly commiserated with the person unlucky enough to be on the receiving end of such unsolicited advice. 

 

However, it didn’t stop there, but was followed by great indignation when their comments weren’t well received. In fact, you could say that they got a dose of their own medicine (!). 

 

And, as an aside, isn’t it ironic that those who are best at handing out advice – in all its different forms – are so bad at taking it?!? 

 

Anyway, before we digress much further, it was a good reminder that life isn’t always about being right. 

Having recently spent a chunk of time loading old blog posts on to the new website (!), we noticed how often the importance of our “internal flora and fauna” was mentioned. So we thought it was about time they featured in a post of their own and here we are. 

 

It’s such an English way of describing something that most people would prefer not to discuss (!) but, before we go any further, let’s quickly explain what it means. 

 

The human body – in common with that of other animals, including insects – also provides a home to a huge number of microorganisms. While this may not initially sound like a good thing, it has many benefits for both sides.