Surrender, accept, de-clutter, live!

This year, I resolve not to be a control freak, to surrender when I know I have no control over things, and to de-clutter.

- JOANNE RAE M. RAMIREZ

Major de-cluttering is an annual mission. In short, I am giving myself space within and around me to live life to the fullest.

Unless I am planning a rocket launch, I resolve not to seek control over all the nuts and bolts of all my endeavors. Perhaps, seeking perfection means allowing others, the weather even, to make a perfect day for you. Though you are the master of your fate and the captain of your ship, you need to leave the wheel sometimes to your first officer and catch 40 winks in your bunk.

"Freedom is the only worthy goal in life. It is won by disregarding things that lie beyond our control," says a quote attributed to Epictetus, a philosopher.

I remember a popular celebrity-politician once recounted a flight where she mistakenly checked in a significant amount of cash in her suitcase and by the time she realized it, she was already on the plane that was about to take off. Instead of worrying about whether the cash would be pilfered from her suitcase, or if her luggage would be lost, she formed a thought balloon in her mind that said, "Let your worries go." And she let her worries fly away like a balloon and slept like a baby during her flight. The cautionary tale had a happy ending. The cash was not lost.

I once asked Menchu Concepcion after her beloved husband Ronnie was diagnosed with Alzheimer's and eldest son Robie with cancer, how she managed to be radiant and composed all the time, and she said, "Acceptance."

After that, shortly before Christmas of 2022, she lost her son Patrick.

After Patrick passed away unexpectedly, Menchu said: