Thank you all for your support and encouragement over the past year and I look forward to talking more with you in 2011, either through the newsletter, a personal contact, or comments on the blog posts.

My dear old Dad always used to raise a toast on Hogmanay:

 ”To absent friends”

It’s a lovely wee toast, a poignant memory of those you’ve lost, and those you just aren’t able to be with at New Year. And now I think I can add another category: all those friends you never see but are out there in the ether offering support and words of encouragement.

Happy New Year to you all!

But thanks to the excellent guy on the check in desk it was no problem at all. He was calm and extremely helpful and got us on the plane we thought we were catching with the minimum of fuss and embarrassment. We thanked him profusely and he said, not at all, we had been lovely customers! Not only did he sort us out but he managed to compliment us in the process!

Remember Your Thank Yous!

I have just written to United Airlines thanking them for the excellent service we received, but I nearly forgot to do it. I was actually on Twitter talking about how good they had been when I realised I hadn’t actually told the airline! And it reminded me how much longer lasting our memory of bad experiences can be and how quick we are to share the negative stuff.

Which is not an argument for never complaining about bad service, but a reminder to acknowledge all the good experiences too.

Saying thank you sincerely and often matters. We all need to get some positive reinforcement when we do a job well, help someone, show kindness, whatever job we have and whatever status we are. Every parent knows the value of rewarding the behaviour we want to see more of in our children, and this principle holds true whatever age we are.

So, in that spirit,  who is deserving of your thanks today?

Thank you all of you who have recommended it to others by word of mouth, sending links or clicking the share this button at end of each post, or book marked it, or signed up to RSS feeds.

Thank you to all who have taken the time to comment on the posts,or twittered about them, or retweeted them.

Thank you to all those who have forwarded the newsletter onto friends  so that I can genuinely describe it as international with subscribers all over the world!

And finally, a most special thank you for all your AMAZING stories and comments, many of them sent to me privately (which I always acknowledge). You have warmed me, encouraged me, sometimes humbled me, but always inspired me.

THANK YOU!

Jane