A couple of days before Thanksgiving, Howie Jacobson, a Fast Company expert blogger used a term, Gratitude Deficit Disorder, or GDD, which, I believe he's the author of, to describe what he says we seem to be lacking a great deal of. We go on ad nauseum about how what's not working, about who's not up to par, and how life should be different, and leave out all the glory about what actually is good and great in life. I've been known to do some of that myself. And maybe you have too. We're all likely a bit guilty of it, some more than others.
But what struck me most is how much we're all "hungry for genuine appreciation" as Jacobson put it, yet we either don't give or get back all that much gratitude that's meaningful. 
His suggestion? Make a short list of people we're grateful to/for and get a plan together for how to let them know.
At the start of every year for the past 11 I've run an Intentions Event where the pre-work is to close out the year in order to have a clean slate -- or as clean as any of us can make it -- for the next 12 months. Included in that pre-work is an Appreciation exercise that's somewhat similar to what Jacobson recommends. It's amazing how good it feels to send a note or call those on the list. It opens up a whole new world for the coming year.
I'll post the exercise in mid-December for any of you who may want to take it on before rushing into 2012 clinging to a few not so savory memories that you could let go of.
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