If the red flag had not appeared, people might persist in patterns that are destructive. With a life-threatening illness, patients can give themselves permission to conduct their lives differently. One man wrote me that his biggest regret was that he hadn't developed cancer earlier in his life so as to have had a wider future in which to employ the insights and changes and values that occurred when he truly began exploring the reasons he developed cancer. Though this sounds shocking, especially to younger patients, I totally understood his meaning. His life is more precious now than before, and the choices he makes are based on deeper appreciation of what is actually important in life.
Balance is thus psychological as well as physical.