A mysterious coffee incident

The world works in funny ways.

I've been talking about the law of attraction lately. While I think the whole guru aspect of it is quite pointless, I have every faith that meditation, visualization, affirmations, and journaling can change your life - without you having to give one dollar to anyone to access these techniques. (Of course, if you don't want to do the research yourself and rather pay someone else to do it for you, you're free to do so. Even I've written a book about LOA. But you absolutely do not have to buy it - the same information can be found online.)

However, one of the main ideas that the LOA presents that has nothing to do with those mentioned techniques is that whatever you give, you get; whatever you put out, you get back; the more you give, the more you receive. In a nutshell: the things you give to the world always find their way back to you. Seth Godin also talks about this: that your job is to give gifts to the world, and if you do, good things come to you. Søren Kierkegaard has a concept called the knight of faith, meaning a person who gives away everything he has with an absolute belief that he'll get it all back.

Pretentiously juxtaposing myself with these great men, here's what happened to me:

A couple of days ago, I was buying a cup of coffee at the grocery store. I filled a paper cup by myself from a large pot, went to the self-checkout, and since the cup had no barcode on it, I was to press a button on the checkout screen to register my purchase. You know how those things are - they don't always recognize your finger (or in this case, my knuckle). So I knuckled the button that said "coffee" but nothing happened. I did it again, nothing happened, and pressed again. I pulled my hand back and wondered if the machine was broken - and then it emerged on the list: coffee x2.

There was no way to delete items from the list, I checked. I considered calling personnel and asking them to remove the extra coffee. Then I realized how stupid it was. One coffee was only 1 buck. I could just pay 2 bucks for one cup of coffee, and no one would notice. I would get out of the store in no time, and everyone would win: the store gets the money, I get the coffee. So I didn't correct the mistake, paid for two coffees, and left the store.

Guess what happened today? Yes, exactly. By a complete surprise accident, I got a free coffee.

After my gym session and checking out some possible office furniture, I felt thirsty and decided to get a bottle of water from a small new grocery store I spotted near the furniture shop. I got the water and went to the cashier and had just paid when the cashier asked if I wanted a voucher for a free cup of coffee. I asked if she was serious; she offered me the voucher and I thanked her happily. She pointed out where the coffee machine was if I wanted to get one right away, and I did. I thanked her again on my way out.

So... I got back what I gave away? I paid for two coffees and got two coffees? And if I had knuckled the button ten times, people would be offering me vouchers and buying me coffees left and right?

I don't know. But that's not the point.

The point is to realize that it's possible that there are patterns and connections everywhere, even if you can't see them.

Believing that things are always working out for you seems like a fine place to start.