So many of us do it, year after year. We look forward to that "clean slate" given by consensus on January 1, and we make resolutions. Many of them go beyond the popular goals—they're quiet, inner commitments to being more kind, unselfish, patient, orderly, pure, spiritually-minded.
For most of us, the desire to turn over a new leaf and improve ourselves reflects a deep yearning to be the best we can be. It may also indicate a longing to erase past mistakes and bad habits, to release the buildup of mental debris and the burden that goes with it. But all too often, no matter how laudable our goals are, we soon find that we're back in the old rut.
I'm finding a new approach to the idea of resolution that's bringing permanent and far-reaching change to my life. It's what I call "premise resolution." I first began to consider this approach when I was thinking about a statement in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, the major work on Christian Science, by Mary Baker Eddy. It says, "Divine Science, rising above physical theories, excludes matter, resolves things into thoughts, and replaces the objects of material sense with spiritual ideas." Science and Health, p. 123.
