The end the year is a time when many of us will make resolutions to lose weight or quit smoking. But instead of making resolutions which are often times quickly forgotten, New Years is a good time to take personal inventory of our lives, says Temple University psychologist Frank Farley.

“In so many fields we take stock, we take inventory, we take a pulse at the end of the year,” says Farley, a professor at Temple. “Sports commentators are going to be reviewing the year in sports and pundits will be doing the same for politics. Even businesses do an end of the year inventory and balancing of the books.

“But we are not so good at doing that about ourselves, reflecting and assessing how we’ve done this past year,” he says. [continue reading…]