barriers to love

A Persian poet named Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi once said, 

Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it

Dissecting this quote, what does it mean? Have you ever heard people say that before you can enter a relationship you, yourself have to be whole? That's what I think of when I read this quote. Finding all the barriers within yourself that are keeping you from loving fully is the best thing you can do for your current or future partner. Honestly, it's the best thing you can do for yourself. I want to encourage you, when you read this quote and others like it, to think not only of loving others but also of loving yourself. The secret to life? Loving yourself. The way to love others and yourself? Find the barriers, go all the way within and seek out those "things" those "triggers" find the root of them and push yourself to work through it and move forward in a positive way.