Over time my heart medication was reduced to 1.25mg, I wasn’t getting the symptoms of AF, nor feeling as tired so I made a doctors appointment and he agreed to stop the medication completely. I have now been symptom free for ages and feel good.

However my wife, ever the sensible one, convinced me that I’m not cured, that I still have AF and always will – but that I’m in remission. This is a good way of looking at things as it keeps me grounded. It’s also very much in line with Daoist philosophy which suggests that a shadow of an illness always remains and therefore makes it easier for it to return.

I enjoy my life, I maintain my Nei Gong practice, I spend a lot of time outside in nature and work on my spiritual development. I do everything in moderation and listen to my body always seeking the ‘middle way’. (From a Buddhist and Daoist preceptive this doesn’t mean avoiding good/bad, left/right, lots or little etc., it means avoiding extremes). And, if you asked my wife about me now she would say that she thinks I’ve finally grown up…….……