Toss a coin

I had been sitting deep in my thoughts. I needed to make a big decision about my job. It seemed that the more I thought about it, the more complicated the issue became in my mind. My friend had invited me over for lunch and now looked at me with a slightly bored expression. No wonder - I hadn´t talked much, thinking about my problem.

- Why don´t you try? I have a special coin just for the occasion.

She opened her bag and took out a small purse. When she opened it I saw only one coin. A genuine old silver dollar.

- This belonged to my grandfather, she said, - And he always used it to make important decisions when he did not know which way to go.

- You mean your grandfather flipped a coin and based his decisions on it?

- When ever he couldn´t decide, yes.

Now I had know her grandfather and always thought of him as one of the most down-to-earth kind of a person.

- You can´t be serious… I looked at my friend, unbelieving.

She just gave me the coin. It felt heavy in my hand.

- Quickly. Decide which answer is heads and which is tails.

Oh what the hey - why not play along. I nodded to show I had made my decision.

- Now toss it.

I did.

- Heads. That would be "Yes". But that can´t be so! I mean if I did that, it would mean… What are you smiling at?

She really was, and looked very amused.

- You see: you got your answer.

- No, I didn´t! It showed "yes" but that can´t be right…

I shut up. I got it.

- Now you see why my grandfather used to toss a coin. He did not follow the answer it showed - head or tails, yes or no. Instead he listened very carefully what was his first emotional reaction to the answer the coin gave. And THAT was the real answer. With this coin he passed his analytical mind and let the subconscious wisdom come through.

I looked at the coin in my hand.

- Wow, I never thought about it that way.

- Well - now you know. Can I have my coin back? And perhaps we could have a meaningful conversation from now on?

That we did.