Works everytime...

1.) Smile - you'd be suprised how many people you can get to do what you want just by smiling
2.) Guilt - same thing applies (I know Im evil for it.. but its ok. Im a woman, and iA one day will have to perfect this in order to bring my children home for visits!!)
3.) Chocolate - 'nuff said
4.) Singing - I feel for my neighbors, I really do...
5.) Ovaltine and watching Cinderella (or your other childhood favorite movie) - believe me it works. it helps to be taken back to a place in your life where you really believed everything would work out in the end.
6.) Manicure/Pedicure - now if you dont know... then you just dont know. haha
7.) Sleeping - aah, you don't realize how much you take it for granted until you're up all night.
8.) Calling your sister - For me, calling Hanna (the eldest) is like going to confession, she has her moments but in the end her "lectures" on Islam make you feel better. I've figured her out though: the key is for me to cry and say Im a horrible person and I dont deserve God's blessing and then she says, "No, Farah, you're a really great person.. etc" Yeah, I cheat to feel better.. but it works everytime. It keeps us connected too.. and she'll never read this.
Now calling Sarah (the youngest...who somehow in maturity is older than me!) is a breath of fresh air... she mA is the voice of reason. Shes old enough to have witnessed some horrors of the world (which I could not shelter her from), but yet still naiive enough to believe and hope that things will get better. Isnt that whats called the rosy-tinted glasses effect?
9.) Shopping -- the key is NOT to ever come clean to yourself about just how much you really spent
10.) Charity - seeing those less fortunate always makes me realize that I really dont have it so bad... and it humbles me because I realize Allah controls my fate.. and at any minute... that could be me on the other end.