Understanding our New Year’s Resolutions

We are about to begin a new year, and with that comes the famous “New Year’s Resolutions”. All of us home educating mothers (and fathers) have great ones for our home schools. In trying to succeed in those resolutions, it would be of great help to concisely analyze what a resolution is and the science behind it.

So what are resolutions? Resolution is defined by the Webster Dictionary as follows:

“The act or process of resolving: as

1. the act of analyzing a complex notion into simpler ones
2. the act of answering: solving
3. the act of determining”

“Something that is resolved <made a resolution to mend my ways>”

So we could define that resolution is having the determination of analyzing, solving and implementing a complex notion (whether it is in the organizational area, planning of new activities, creating or achieving a set goal), but staying committed to it.

Jonah Lehrer published, in The Wall Street Journal, that scientifically, the part of our brain that its in charge of doing resolutions is the prefrontal cortex, which is also the area in charge of “keeping us focused, handling short term memory and solving abstract problems”. So, neuroscience research suggests that having too many resolutions to tackle at once may fog or stress that area of the brain, and in return not being able to help us accomplish those goals. The majority of people have multiple resolutions. The advice then, is to spread out all those resolutions into a period of time.

Wikipedia defines the word resolution, according to law terms, as “a written motion adopted by a deliberative body”. Lets focus on the part that says “written motion”. Some studies have suggested that people who are more explicit and write their resolutions, are more likely to achieve their goals. So I suggest seven ways to work on our resolutions: 

1. Write down goals (resolutions)
2. Spread them throughout the year
3. Tackle each one at a time
4. Set dates for beginning
5. Apply
6. Evaluate half way into the year or by quarters (every three months)
7. “Reap” at the end of the year the fruits of our work

 

According to statistics published recently in the Journal Of Clinical Psychology, by the University of Scranton, the Top Ten New Year’s resolutions for 2014 are:

1. Lose Weight
2. Get Organized
3. Spend Less, Save More
4. Enjoy Life to the Fullest
5. Staying Fit and Healthy
6. Learn Something Exciting
7. Quit Smoking
8. Help Others in Their Dreams
9. Fall in Love
10. Spend More Time with Family

As Christian home educating moms, what are the resolutions that we have set in our minds?, there is plenty that we place in our plates, there might be many goals that we might have for this year, like becoming a better teacher for our kids, improving our homeschool or creating new curriculums, but whatever they might be, we need to re direct our goals to Christ, because it is through Him that we can achieve success. We should first have a top resolution, and that is to constantly give our lives to God and to get to know Him better. How do we exactly get to know God better? Well, its simple, by studying His Word with prayer and worship. Making Him our first priority when we begin the day…to begin the day with Him.

A synonym of resolution is COURAGE, and the best definition I found of courage is “firmness of mind and will in the face of danger or extreme difficulty”.

Resolutions, are really our way to decide and determine that we will no longer feed a bad habit, and we will change it by incorporating the opposite: Building a good habit. It takes determination and COURAGE to build a good habit. It takes time and REPETITION.

Lets first build our furthermost habit of knowing God better. Lets commit to have a daily devotional and prayer time with God, and dwell in His Word. Write it down on our planners, fill the whole year to keep reminding us of it. Lets spend the first month of the year building the habit of studying God’s Word, and once this area is achieved, work on the next ones, always guarding the one that we have just achieved with prayer and diligence. God will help us succeed in all our tasks when we place Him first.

Proverbs 3:5,6 teaches us: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.”