The idea of the resolution goes all the way back to Ancient Rome and the God Janus, after whom we get the name of the first month of our year. Janus was the God of New Beginnings, and as such he had the power to look both forwards and backwards; people would often pray to Janus for help in enacting positive changes in their lives.
Though we no longer pray to Janus, we still do practice this custom of proclaiming what we would like to improve upon... thus for the first blog of 2012 I ask you what, if any, resolutions you have made for the coming year?