Finder is seemingly empty and files on Desktop are gone?

I have no idea why this happened but now when I open Finder, my desktop, documents, applications and everything else don't show the files I know are there. I also had several files on my desktop that are no longer showing. This is really annoying because I can't access my documents and downloads which I really need to get to right now. I can't think of anything I did to have triggered this but its been like this for at least a few days.
I have a Macbook Pro and Lion.
Thanks for your help!

If all else fails you can reinstall the operating system. That's what Apple told me to do when I accidently deleted my "All my files" folder in Finder. I don't know if it works for older operating systems. But it definitely works in 10.7.3. You turn your computer off. When you turn it back on, hold down the Command, Option and R keys together. The computer will automatically download the operating system and reinstall.

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