You know those times in your life when it feels like everything is against you? You’re putting forth your best effort, working every possible angle and yet, nothing seems to be happening?

Yep, I’ve totally been there.

As someone who has big dreams and visions for my life (and if you’re reading this, I’m guessing you do too), I know that this is one of the most frustrating places to be. In fact, it can be really easy to allow that frustration to take you out if you’re not careful. Luckily, there is a way to start turn things around and get your feel-good mojo flowing again.  This is the three-step process that works for me. I hope it helps you too!

Start by assessing the situation objectively. Do you ever notice how once you start to focus your mind on one negative thing, suddenly, you start to view everything else in your life in the same negative light? We’ve all done this! In fact, our ego likes to trick us into thinking that nothing in our lives is working when the reality is that we’ve actually made a lot of progress if we look at things from an objective point of view.

One of the best ways to combat this ego trick is to simply state the facts. Create a list (seriously, get out a pen and journal right now!) of everything that you have going for you in the area of your life where you’re currently feeling discouraged — this could be steps that you’re taking to put yourself out there, support you’ve received from friends, family, minor successes or even big successes you’ve forgotten about. Write it all down.

If you’re having a difficult time coming up with things, enlist a friend in this activity. Often a soul sister or family member can better reflect to us our strengths or accomplishments, especially when we’re feeling low. By looking at things more objectively, you’ll start to see areas where you have made progress and, better yet, you’ll begin silence your ego’s argument to the contrary. I’ve used this trick time and time again when I’m feeling down in a certain area of my life and it never fails.

Next, spend some time dwelling in the energy of gratitude. I like to think of gratitude as the key that unlocks the door to the flow of abundance into my life. I’ve witnessed the transformational effects of gratitude in many areas of my own life and this powerful practice never ceases to amaze me.

The problem is, when it feels like things aren’t working in our lives we don’t often feel like we have much to be grateful for and so our gratitude practice falls by the wayside. The irony, of course, is that these are the times when we need gratitude the most! The good news? You can reignite your gratitude practice at any time. Start by expressing gratitude for the things that feel easy to be grateful for — your health, your pets (my dogs always make my list 🙂 ), your family — then, as the gratitude starts to flow more easily, extend it out into other areas of your life. By activating the energy of gratitude, you literally flip the switch on your attracting power and allow more good to flow to you.

Finally, have faith. Remember that good things take time, and you often don’t see the effects of your efforts until you’ve taken several steps forward in faith (it takes time for a seed to begin to sprout and then grow into a full-blown tree). I know that for some of you the idea of drawing on faith (especially during a particularly difficult time) may seem impossible. Do your best. Spend some time with people who can hold space for your vision until you can lean on your own faith again (this could be a coach, friend or family member). Remember, even a tiny mustard seed of faith can work miracles.