Shall we toss the coin?

Choices... Decisions... Everyone wants to do the right thing, everyone wants the best to happen. Everyone desires happy outcome in every situation. However we must realise that we live in the real world, not a world of fantasy. We live in a world where wrong decisions have their consequences, where happy outcome is sometimes non-existence. We live in a world where you have to lose something in order to gain something, where hearts and promises sometimes may have to be broken in pursue of the right decision.

Someone once told me not so long ago that if we are faced with difficult decisions and we're not sure which one is the best for us, toss a coin. If after the first toss you're not satisfied and wanted another try, then you know deep down in your heart, you've always wanted the other choice. Sometimes it's really difficult to rationalise why we choose one over the other. Sometimes it seems so obvious why we should choose something over the other but despite this, our heart feels so heavy to go ahead with the choice. Brain and heart might not work hand and hand in many situations.

It's easy to say 'just go with the flow, let the future unfolds itself'. One day we just have to choose one. Maybe deep down in our heart, we've already made the choice but it's just so difficult to let it out in the open. Or maybe it's just still very hazy and waiting for the clouds to clear away so that the answer will be crystal clear. Shall we just follow our heart?? Or shall we sacrifice our happiness for the sake of others??

Islam has an answer for this. It's just a matter of how sincere we are in our actions. Solat Istikharah is Allah's gift for Muslims in choosing difficult situations, bearing in mind our heart must be pure and sincere in asking for Allah's direction. Islam says: if after few repeated solats, we are very incline towards a decision, stick to it because that might be what Allah has chosen for us. What's best for us might not be what we've always wanted and Allah knows best.