Many, many years ago I attended a seminar led by a renowned spiritual teacher. One of the most important lessons I learned during that enlightening weekend was a lesson on input and output.

The breath was the metaphor he used. The system of breathing, which happens naturally and automatically for nearly every human being, only works when what is taken in is balanced by what is given out.

So many of us who live in the worlds of inner development, whether personally or professionally, are a bit off in our dance of balance. (I just may be the poster child for this imbalance, by the way.)

To take in is easy. To learn more, to consume more, to be the recipients of what others are giving, requires very small amounts of courage, risk or action. And it appears like a perfectly fine way to live a life. After all, who wouldn’t want to have more, know more and be more?

The problem lies when this becomes the predominant activity, just like over-weight happens when we take in more food than the energy we burn. Or we pass out from holding our breath.

It’s downright scary to give. Messages of unworthiness, incapability, and not-enoughness act as obstacles to our inherent impulse to share. To exhale.

I recently did an enormous clothing purge. My daughter and I spent an afternoon emptying our drawers and closets to remove what no longer served us. Contractor bags full of clothes, shoes and accessories filled the hallway between our bedrooms as we grew giddy from the lightness of less.

I knew that my valuable, unworn items, which I had held onto for the somedays that never came, could be of great value to many. Perhaps the woman breaking into the workforce who could not afford something decent to wear to an interview could rock it in my navy Anne Klein suit. Perhaps her daughter would, for the first time, have a trendy pair of skinny jeans to wear to school. Perhaps my coat would keep someone warm and dry this winter.

That wasn’t so hard, although it took a significant amount of energy to get it going. It was, however, a much-needed step in the right direction.

Much more frightening than offering what is in my closet, is the idea of sharing what is in my heart. To stand on the shaky perch as a teacher, a guide, a mentor, a counselor. Even as a parent, a partner, a friend.

We are here, sharing this time on this planet, as each other’s teachers. Wherever you are on the path, you have something that someone else can use.

Who is to say what you offer has any value? Who is to say you have anything useful to share? Who is to say you know enough? Who is to say you are enough?

You are. Period.

Accumulating knowledge without sharing our teachings is about as useful and sustainable as inhaling without exhaling. To be the bearer of our own gifts can open us up to ridicule, rejection and risk. It is the path of heroes and heroines, wearing the costumes of regular folk.

Your fear is a lighthouse illuminating the oceans of possibility towards your gifts.

And gifts are meant to be given, not collected and hoarded.

Whether you are actively taking (signing up for that new course by your favorite teacher) or passively receiving (accepting help from a friend), it is crucial to encourage the flow of energy by actively giving (the pile of clothes I gave to my dear friend) or passively offering (announcing my upcoming workshop). It not only feels better, it creates more space and availability for you to receive.

What is your relationship to giving and taking? I’d love to know.