Re: Pet Peeve Regarding Istikharas
RV we were extremely excited about these 3 opportunities. Had started looking at housing, schools & other options. I personally was very excited & then I did the Istikhara & all of a sudden I wake up next day feeling all blah about these opportunities & this other city is coming in my mind. There was no emotion left & I remember thinking “Oh this is some change of mind” The fact that all the charm & excitement was all of a sudden gone it was a clear indication to me that its a no for ALL possible places, which was interesting because our “neeyat” was to pick from one. Every time I do an Istikhara, I do however make the dua that "help us choose from what we have if its good for our deen & duniya, make this easier for us in that regard, if its not good for our deen or duniya, make it go away with “khair” & if there is something better out there open our eyes to that. That is why I mentioned it is extremely important to do the Istikhara the right way meaning with an open mind.
Anyways since this was a huge decision, to be extremely sure I continued doing it for the next 2 more days & things just kept on getting stronger & stronger in my mind. No to any of these 3 opportunities. The emotional disconnection was surprising & convincing for me. I had started my Istikhara on a Monday & did it till Wednesday night & we still didn’t say no right away. We waited throughout the week & the conviction just kept on getting stronger.
I have done so many Istkharaas in the past 7 years & have found my “result” experience varies every single time. I also feel like dreams can be tricky at times but persistent feeling about something is a strong indication in what direction to go. Now these feelings don’t always come up right away. I have done Istikharaas with literally no results at times meaning no strong indication towards or against anything. In those times I just wait for things to unfold with an extremely neutral mind & then there are times where I have usually gotten a result in three days. Result meaning extreme emotional change towards or against something.