Things Will Be Better In 2008 -- I Promise! (All About New Year's Resolutions)

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 How did the custom of New Year's resolutions get started?

Our First-of-January New Year's celebration, said the The Funk and Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore (edited by Maria Leach), "is a modern innovation." The ancient European custom of seeing in the new year in March continued well after Julius Caesar put January at the beginning of the calendar (some places chose Christmas or other dates). Jan. 1 became New Year's Day with the Gregorian calendar reforms of the 1500s, though Scotland held out until 1600 and England and its colonies resisted until 1752.

The Folklore of World Holidays (edited by Robert H. Griffin and Ann H. Shurgin) said "the first day of the year is a time to seek good omens and a fresh beginnings, to foretell the future and take ritual precautions to preserve good luck in the coming year." The resolve is "to make amends or improve one's life in various ways in the months ahead." The Funk and Wagnalls source added that whether the New Year is "noted with rejoicing, regret or hope is determined by complex ethnic factors" the world over.

In Western Europe, the church Council of Tours (1163) cited "a practice long in use" when it required prayers, fasts and a mass of expiation on New Year's Day (January had followed the pagan December festival of Saturnalia, whose abundant revelry carried over into Christmas celebrations). Dancing was expressly forbidden on New Year's Day.

Sue Ellen Thompson and Barbara W. Carlson (editors of the Holidays, Festivals and Celebrations of the World Dictionary) wrote that New Year resolutions are "loudly proclaimed and then often forgotten." But there is hope. In 2003, ABC News' Lee Dye ("New Year's Dissolutions: Research Offers Help on Sticking to those Resolutions") reviewed an Internet survey conducted at the University of Washington. It stated that 63 percent of the 264 survey participants replied that they had kept to their most important resolution of 1997, for at least two months. The researchers concluded that people who think about their resolutions some time in advance were more likely to succeed than others who come up with a resolution just before midnight on New Year's Eve. Most people (222, or 84 percent of those surveyed) chose positive activities (like exercise, better study and work habits, and smarter eating) than trying to correct negative behavior (only 7 percent resolved to cut back on smoking, drinking or drug use). Learning good behaviors may be easier than trying to break a bad one, especially addiction to nicotine, alcohol or narcotics.

Only 40 percent of the survey participants made their resolution work on the first try, and 17 percent had to try, try again for more than six times before succeeding. Researcher Elizabeth Miller said confidence is the key to success, and her colleague, Alan Marlatt, urged people to pat themselves on the back and to take full credit for their successes. When at first you don't succeed, "look at the barriers that were in your way," Marlatt advised.

Lisa Branigan ("How to Keep Your New Year's Resolution") outlined a plan of action for success:

Don't Try Everything at Once! -- Limit your goals to one or two big expectations ("You can always add new resolutions to your list later").

Word it Carefully -- The Web site called a statement like "This year, I am going to relax" a "stress-inducer waiting to happen." Try some kinder, gentler and more specific wording, like "This year, I'm going to explore different ways of relaxing."

Make a Plan - Break your resolution down into a simple but doable plan of action ("Nobody accomplishes anything of significance by trying to do it all at once.") Here are possible steps for the "relaxation" resolution:

1) Surf the Internet to find different relaxation techniques.

2) Make a list of all the techniques that interest you.

3) Pick one of these techniques -- meditation, progressive relaxation or self-hypnosis, for instance -- and try one for a month.

4) Try a different technique every month until you find one you like.

Write it Down--  and stick your action plan "up on the fridge, in your locker, wherever you know you'll see it" as a constant reminder. ...You may want to change the wording as time passes and your goal changes.

So, good luck! And take heart from the wisdom of others. Ponder these thoughts from The Home Book of Quotations:

"Resolve, and thou art free." (Longfellow, The Masque of Pandora)

"Never tell your resolution beforehand." (John Selden, English jurist, 1584-1654)

"Hearts resolved and hands prepared." (Tobias George Smollett, English novelist, 1721-1771)

"The road to resolution lies by doubt." (Francis Quarles, English poet and devotional writer, 1592-1644)

"All things are what you make them." (Plautus, Roman dramatist who flourished from 254-184 B.C.)

"How terrible is constant resolution." (Shakespeare, Henry V)