A wise professor once told me in Graduate school that whenever you are confronted with a problem spend more time on a solution then on the problem. He went on to say that when we spend endless hours on telling ourselves how insurmountable the issue is we dissipate our ability to manage or solve it. The phrase he offered which I have employed on countless occasions was “What would it be like if we did not have the problem?” The beauty of that question is that it moves the brain toward solution without diminishing the obstacles or serious dimensions of the problem. It is amazing what we come up with when the energy goes to making it better rather than consistently reinforcing the problem. Next time you are in the midst of the valley try and concentrate what it would be like to climb the mountain and see the panoramic view once you overcame the hurdles.