Giving what we think we lack

Here's a quote that contains a lot of wisdom. It's by Neale Donald Walsch from his book Tomorrow's God:

You never need anything when you give away that which you thought you lacked...you suddenly experience that you had it to give all along.

This is actually the principle behind the compassion practice of "sending and taking" or tonglen. When we have a problem, we do tonglen for others with the same problem. We take in the pain and suffering of the others and we send them the happiness and well-being they need. Through this, we actually feel better ourselves - that is to say, we discover that we had within us what we thought we lacked.