>Thanks Jose,
>
>At home, when I can't find something, and I finally ask my husband what he did with it, it immediately shows up. Likewise, in programming, when I struggle with a problem for hours and finally give up and ask for help, the answer comes to me. I feel so foolish, because it generally hits me just about the time I click the "Send" button.
>
>What is it about giving up that frees your mind to see the answer?

You lift the pressure off your mind and let it do the job by itself. If you can't solve a problem by yourself in desired time, try to explain it to anybody (the janitor principle) - when you put it into words you actually have to rethink it, and most of the tiles rearrange. Other way is to ask a co-worker (or a, ahem, co-UTer), who doesn't have a slightest clue of what you're trying to do. He'll know it right on, most of the time.

Tricks of mind, mostly, but these two ways have worked ever since I started programming. If both fail, then you really have a problem, and post a deeeeetailed message here - it promises an interesting thread :)