As we approach a new year, it is common for us to take stock of our lives and think about things that we'd like to do differently in the coming year. Often, the resolutions we think about are negative resolutions. That is, we have some behavior that we currently perform that we'd like to stop. It might be quitting smoking, or eating less junk food, stopping drinking or drugs, or even cutting back on bad language.

Unfortunately, if we are thinking about these kinds of resolutions, it is probably not for the first time. Mark Twain is supposed to have said that quitting smoking is one of the easiest things he ever did--he has done it thousands of times.