There are days when you wish you were a magician.

If you were, all problems would be fixed with a click of your fingers. No more thorny predicaments. No more half-baked ideas. No more unfinished business. One finger-pop and you'd solve everything, quick and painless.

But Abracadabra is never that simple – or is it? In the new book "Snap: Seizing Your Aha! Moments" by Katherine Ramsland, you'll see that you shouldn't worry about your fingers. It's your mind that should be snapping.

You know how it goes: you spot a problem that stymies you. Frustrated, you head for bed and sleep, until your subconscious gets done chewing on the problem and the solution smacks you awake. Problem solved.

But is it really that easy?

Ramsland says that it is, but it requires some preparation and the implementation of three basic steps: scanning, sifting and solving. Overall, it's not what you think about the problem, but how you think.

Scanning seems to involve an immersion in the issue itself, and a certain "bliss" or "flow" with the situation as a whole. You're interested in the product or end result – maybe even passionate about it – so finding a solution becomes imperative. You