The Remission Attitude

Healing isn't passive. It's participated in.

A diagnosis can leave you without a map.

When you're first diagnosed with cancer, you're suddenly thrown into a world you may know nothing about.

There are doctors, scans, treatments, decisions and a whole new language to understand — often at a time when you're frightened and least equipped to take it all in.

I remember that feeling.

I wanted someone to give me a manual. Not a medical textbook, and not a promise that everything would be all right.

Just something that could help me understand what I could do. How I could participate. How I could find some direction when so much suddenly felt outside my control.

I couldn't find that manual.

So eventually, I wrote it.

The book I wish someone had handed me.

The Remission Attitude is the book I needed when I was diagnosed.

It isn't a medical manual and it doesn't promise a particular outcome. It's about something different: how we can participate in our own lives when so much suddenly feels beyond our control.

Through my own experience of advanced cancer, treatment and profound uncertainty, I explore the choices, practices and changes that helped me move from fear and confusion towards greater agency, direction and purpose.

This isn't about doing everything perfectly.

It's about recognising what remains within your influence — and doing something with it.

Then life put it to the test.

I was diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer with a PSA of 124. I was told I might have six months to a year to live — perhaps longer with treatment.

I chose treatment. But I also made another decision: I wasn't going to hand everything over to medicine and become a passenger in my own life.

I researched. I changed how I ate. I exercised. I practised Qigong, meditation and breathwork. I explored complementary therapies. Some things stayed. Some things didn't.

What mattered was that I was participating.

Then came stage-four melanoma. Tumours in my groin, lungs and liver. Immunotherapy followed — and then a life-threatening autoimmune reaction that left me in hospital and unable to continue treatment.

Two weeks before Christmas 2019, lying in that hospital, I said something out loud:

“I will be cancer-free by April.”

It wasn't a prediction. And it wasn't hope.

It was a statement of belief — and belief, for me, demanded action.

Three months later, on 17 March 2020, my scans showed the two lung tumours had gone, the two groin tumours had gone, and the twelve tumours in my liver had been reduced to what my oncologist described as “embers.”

Later came the words:

“You are in remission.”

Six years later, I'm still here.

“My outcome is not the lesson. The approach is.”

What happened to me is not a promise of what will happen to someone else. The Remission Attitude is about the way I chose to live when the outcome was uncertain — and the principles that came from that experience.

"If a diagnosis of cancer has left you feeling you’re rapidly drowning, desperately clutching for anything to give you any shred of hope or certainty, then The Remission Attitude is the manual to building yourself a life raft that can carry you forward into an unfamiliar and uncertain future.

Robin Daly MBE — Founder & Chair, Yes to Life

What's inside The Remission Attitude?

PART I — THE FALL

When life shifts beneath your feet.

The diagnosis, the uncertainty and the search for something to hold onto when the life you knew suddenly changes.

PART II — THE TESTING

When ideas meet reality.

Treatment, daily practices, setbacks and the extraordinary period when everything I'd been learning was tested under pressure.

PART III — THE RISING

What emerges when you begin to participate.

Agency, belief, consistency and the principles that helped me find a different way of living with uncertainty.

Explore the chapters and what's included

PART I — THE FALL

Chapter 1 — When Life Shifts Beneath Your Feet
Losing work, losing independence, and the first cracks in a familiar life.

Chapter 2 — The Diagnosis Behind the Diagnosis
The reality of limited time and the decision to walk both medical and holistic paths.

Chapter 3 — Down the Rabbit Holes
Research, overwhelm, clarity, and the nine principles that changed everything.

PART II — THE TESTING

Chapter 4 — The Rituals That Kept Me Alive
Qigong, breathwork, meditation, and the quiet power of daily disciplines.

Chapter 5 — Fuel for Healing
Juicing, fasting, hydration, and the small choices that became part of my daily life.

Chapter 6 — Strength Before the Storm
Training the body, the crash of radiotherapy, and the shock of melanoma.

PART III — THE RISING

Chapter 7 — The Remission Attitude
A mindset born from necessity, perseverance, and self-honesty.

Chapter 8 — The Quiet Turning Point
Healing as a slow return to life, revealed in subtle moments.

THE REMISSION ATTITUDE FRAMEWORK
Pulling it all together so you can create your own Remission Attitude.

EPILOGUE — BRUISED NOT BROKEN
Gratitude, simplicity, spirituality, and the enduring truth of love.

HEALING PRACTICES REFERENCE CHART
Summary of practices, the science and potential benefits.

The book was only the beginning.

A workbook to turn the ideas into action.

Writing the book helped me make sense of what I'd been through. But I wanted to create something that could help you do more than simply read about my experience.

So I created The Remission Attitude Companion Workbook — a free, interactive 93-page workbook designed to help you explore where you are now, what remains within your influence, and what you want to do with it.

This isn't about following my path.

It's about helping you begin to build your own.

UNDERSTAND WHERE YOU ARE

Your Diagnosis Story

The Agency Assessment

The Five A's

Identity & The Second Diagnosis

Reasons to Live

BUILD YOUR APPROACH

Building My Participation Framework

The Daily Practices Self-Audit

My Daily Participation Plan

My Weekly Commitment Contract

PUT IT INTO PRACTICE

30-Day Participation Tracker
My Remission Attitude Statement
12-Week Implementation Programme

SEE WHAT'S CHANGING

90-Day Progress Scorecard

Explore everything inside the workbook

WELCOME — HOW TO USE THE WORKBOOK

Section 1 — Your Diagnosis Story

Section 2 — The Agency Assessment

Section 3 — The Five As

Section 4 — Identity and The Second Diagnosis

Section 5 — Reasons to Live

Section 6 — Building My Participation Framework

Section 7 — The Daily Practices Self-Audit

Section 8 — My Daily Participation Plan

Section 9 — My Weekly Commitment Contract

Section 10 — 30-Day Participation Tracker

Section 11 — My Remission Attitude Statement

THE 12-WEEK IMPLEMENTATION PROGRAMME
THE 90-DAY PROGRESS SCORECARD

A 12-week programme to help you put it into practice.

Change rarely happens because we read something once. It happens through practice, repetition and paying attention to what changes.

The 12-Week Implementation Programme is designed to help you work with the ideas in The Remission Attitude one week at a time — with a new video, a clear focus and practical exercises in your Companion Workbook.

WATCH

A new video each week to introduce the theme and explain why it matters.

PRACTISE

Use the exercises and challenges in your workbook to put the week's ideas into action.

REFLECT

Notice what's changing, what you're learning and what you want to carry forward.

Your 12-week journey

Week 1 — The Beginning of Change

Week 2 — Your Healing Rhythm

Week 3 — The Power of Breath

Week 4 — Working With Your Body

Week 5 — Mindset

Week 6 — Stillness

Week 7 — Nature

Week 8 — Food

Week 9 — Your Support Team

Week 10 — Agency in Action

Week 11 — Your Top Five Practices

Week 12 — My Remission Attitude

Explore the complete 12-week programme

WEEK 1 — THE BEGINNING OF CHANGE
Observe your current life without judgement.
Begin by noticing where you are now — your routines, emotions and patterns — before trying to change anything.

WEEK 2 — YOUR HEALING RHYTHM
Create a rhythm you can actually sustain.
Begin shaping simple daily practices that support consistency rather than perfection.

WEEK 3 — THE POWER OF BREATH
Use your breath as a practical tool.
Explore conscious breathing and how it can help create moments of calm, awareness and presence.

WEEK 4 — WORKING WITH YOUR BODY
Reconnect with your body through movement.
Explore ways of moving and working with your body according to where you are now.

WEEK 5 — MINDSET
Notice the thoughts that shape how you respond.
Explore how your thinking influences your choices, behaviour and ability to participate.

WEEK 6 — STILLNESS
Create space to stop, notice and listen.
Explore simple practices that help you step away from constant doing and spend time in stillness.

WEEK 7 — NATURE
Reconnect with the world beyond your diagnosis.
Use time outdoors and contact with nature as an intentional part of your weekly practice.

WEEK 8 — FOOD
Pay attention to how you nourish yourself.
Explore your relationship with food and the everyday choices you can make with greater awareness.

WEEK 9 — YOUR SUPPORT TEAM
Build the support team you need.
Consider who supports you, what kind of support you need and where you may need to ask for help.

WEEK 10 — AGENCY IN ACTION
Turn what you've learned into deliberate choices.
Look at where you have influence and practise taking action rather than remaining a passenger.

WEEK 11 — YOUR TOP FIVE PRACTICES
Identify what genuinely works for you.
Choose the practices that have helped you most and begin building them into a sustainable personal routine.

WEEK 12 — MY REMISSION ATTITUDE
Bring everything together.
Reflect on what you've learned and create your own Remission Attitude — the principles and practices you want to carry forward.

You don't have to do this alone.

There are times when a book, a workbook or a video can only take you so far.

Sometimes what helps is a conversation with someone who understands the uncertainty — and who can help you work out what your next steps might be.

That's why I now work privately with people who want to take these ideas further and begin putting them into practice in their own lives.

Not to tell you how to live. To help you discover how you want to live.

Private 1:1 Mentoring

A 12-week private mentoring programme built around you, your circumstances and the changes you want to make.

We meet regularly over 12 weeks to explore where you are, what matters most to you and where you still have influence.

We can work with the principles in The Remission Attitude, your Companion Workbook and the practices you're developing — but this isn't a fixed programme that everyone follows in the same way.

The starting point is always you.

EXPLORE PRIVATE MENTORING

This may be for you if...

You've been diagnosed and don't know what to do next.
You're doing everything medically asked of you, but want to participate more actively in your own life.
You feel as though you've become a passenger in your diagnosis.
You know something needs to change, but you're not sure where to begin.
You want someone beside you who understands the uncertainty.

If this feels like the right next step, let's talk.

I don't expect you to decide from a website whether I'm the right person to work with.

We can begin with a conversation — where you are, what you're dealing with, and what you would like to change.

What others are saying

"…a compelling first person account from a person who reached the limits of the health care system and took control of their recovery in the face of grim odds. John's story is a strong call to action for a different approach to health, healing and wholeness"

Malcolm Larri — Brave Coaching - Personal Coaching and Professional Speaker

“If you want something real to do alongside real medicine, read this.

John Bennetts writes with rare honesty and heart, and gives you the guide rails to use when everything feels out of control.”

Dr Nicholas Lucas, PhD — Author of Peak Speed

How could so much be contained in so few pages? John Bennetts set out with a determination to share his hard-won personal experience and convey the essence of his discoveries to others as clearly and succinctly as possible.

In this he has clearly succeeded, but to ensure that readers get all the additional detail and support they need to make The Remission Attitude a reality in their lives, John backs up his book with a free Companion Workbook and 12-week video course."

Robin Daly MBE — Founder & Chair, Yes to Life

The Mission to Remission

To help people live intentionally after a life-changing diagnosis.

The Mission to Remission exists to remind people that even when much of life is beyond our control, we are not powerless.

There are still choices we can make. Actions we can take. And ways we can participate in the life that remains ours to live.

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