Law of Attraction Tips: Cafeteria Approach

"Life," said the great metaphysics and New Though author Emmet Fox, "is like a cafeteria."

Fox, a prolific lecturer and writer in the early part of the 20th century, tells this story in his book Find and Use Your Inner Power. Newly arrived in America from the United Kingdom, he walked into a restaurant in New York City (keep in mind that this is the 1920's). He looks around and sees that the restaurant is full of people enjoying their food, so he takes a seat at a table. And he waits. And he waits. After about 20 minutes wondering why no one has approached him with a menu, he realizes that people are getting up and walking over to a long table filled with many dishes of food. They take a tray and a plate and help themselves to food. It suddenly dawns on him that if he wants to eat, he has to approach the table and take what he wants. Later on he realizes that this is a cafeteria, a new restaurant concept to him. Cafeteria-style eating was not well known in the United Kingdom where he came from, so he had no idea what to do in such a restaurant! He sat there, hungry and growing angrier by the minute that he was ignored...only to realize that it was he who needed to take action.

Are you like Mr. Fox sitting in the restaurant? Do you sit and fume about what you don't have? Are you jealous, angry, and envious of the good fortune everyone around you seems to have? Are they richer, prettier, more popular, thinner than you?

Many people fall victim to the 'restaurant mentality' when in fact, to use the law of attraction properly, we have to navigate life more with a 'cafeteria mentality.' If you sit still and wait for love, money and good things to fall into your lap without doing any of the footwork to get them, you're just like the man sitting in the cafeteria, angry because no one was serving him, when all he needed to do was pick up a tray and help himself to tasty dishes.

Life provides abundant opportunities. Step right up to the feast!

I'm on the record as poking fun at many of the law of attraction coaches, and with good reason. Many take a 'pie in the sky' approach, treating the universal power (God, if you like, or whatever name you give to your higher power) as if he's a giant ATM machine in the sky. While most religious traditions and spiritual beliefs do underscore that the universe or your Higher Power does want to shower you with abundant blessings and all good things, you have to do the leg work to prepare yourself to receive them. If you mind does not accept that you deserve such things, if your consciousness is not raised to believe in them, and if you have taken no steps to find them or create conditions favorable to receive what you ask for then you are like that man in the cafeteria sitting at a table and hoping the food will come to him when all he needed to do is get up and walk 20 feet and choose what he wanted. Thoughts influence chance according to the Law of Attraction, and our thoughts are things. They attract like magnets. But our actions also generate positive energy, and I am of the firm belief that first we get our minds in order, then we take positive action steps - and THEN we receive the blessings!

Remember the scene in the Empire Strikes Back when Yoda is teaching Luke Skywalker how to be a Jedi knight? "I'll try," Luke says to Yoda, who snaps back, "Do not try: DO."

The stated formula for the Law of Attraction is Ask, Believe and Receive. According to this formula, first one must ask for what one wants. One must have a strong belief that it's possible. And then one must be open to Receiving the possible.

I like to add a fourth Law of Attraction tip: DO. Take action steps to get what you have asked for, believe in, and are ready to receive!

When I wanted to meet my future husband, I used not the three Law of Attraction Steps, but FOUR! I asked the universe (God) through prayer to find the right spouse for me. I believe that was possible. And I was ready to receive or meet men who would fit the bill. But did I just stay home all day and night asking, believing and receiving? No! Now, the universe could send a meter reader or mailman to my door who was the perfect potential husband, but I had to do some of the work myself. I went out with my friends to places where I could meet new people. I joined a dating club, and that was eventually how I met my husband. But even joining the club wasn't enough action - I had to participate! I asked, believed, and received, but I also took action to put myself in places where it was easy for the universe to grant my request. And 20 years later, still married to the guy I met in that club, I am happy to say that yes, the Law of Attraction can work. But it's not a passive thing. You must combine the mental effort with effort in the physical plane to achieve the desired effect.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention a few other Law of Attraction tips I've discovered in my decades of studying metaphysics and New Thought. When you do get out of your chair and head over the banquet table of life, you can fill your plate - but be selective with what you choose. Leaving lots of things on your plate because you sampled them and don't like the taste is akin to spreading your life energy too thin, rushing this way and that chasing a goal here and a goal there. While it's great to have multiple life goals (who doesn't want to be both rich and thin?) choose what you want from the banquet of life so that you leave nothing on your plate.

And lastly, sample gourmet fare. Just as you don't fill up on those little cellophane wrapped packages of saltines at the buffet in the cafeteria-style restaurant and leave the chocolate cheesecake behind, choose things that fill you, body and soul.

Lastly, pay your tab - pay your bill: give back what you receive. Selfless love and selfless service adds abundance back into the universe, and what you give out in life energy, you receive back. Choose happiness and abundance to be sure, but avoid selfishness at all costs. Most Law of Attraction coaches come off as advising people to be greedy. Remember my 'big ATM in the sky' metaphor? They focus on using the Law of Attraction for money or love, which are all fine, but you will get so much more out of life if you give back what you get. Pay your tab to the big cafeteria in the sky. When you step up to the buffet to fill your plate, remember to pay the bill! Seek opportunities for service along with your own personal goals. Selfless gifts refill your soul-bank in the Law of Attraction, and like a magnet, attract gifts back. Give of yourself when you ask, and be ready to receive the blessings.