Self–love is a popular buzz word we’ve all heard. Some buzz words are trendy, and many become meaningless. But self-love should be something that is here to stay – every single day – for each and every one of us. Why? Because it is vital to your basic happiness and its benefits are plentiful. One of the major payoffs of consciously focusing on loving yourself is that it expands your intuitive abilities.

When we love ourselves, the feeling flows through our cells, systems and organs on a consistent basis. Living our lives at this level makes us more aware when anyone or anything crosses our path that throws us out of sync. Our gut responds and, when we love ourselves, we sense that response and pay attention to it.

Contrary to popular belief, deeply loving yourself does not mean you are conceited or selfish. Rather, it is a reflection of learning to accept your pluses and minuses while still loving yourself.

All too often we make decisions based on our need to be loved. When you go out into the world with your self-love battery fully charged, you realize that there is nothing that can happen to you in life that will shake your inner sense of who you are.

The term self-love was created by renowned psychologist Erich Fromm. The intensity of love we feel for ourselves is heavily influenced by the level of our self-worth, self confidence, self-respect and self-esteem. The more deeply we feel rooted in our own love for ourselves and self-worth, the greater our ability to know what’s best for us and what’s wrong for us.

People who believe that they are valuable and worthy of love tend to make wiser decisions. If we really think about it, a good life is a series of wise decisions. The more intuitively aware we are, the stronger our ability to make life choices that will pay off in creating a bright future.

It’s easy to get sidetracked and spend time focused on not having the perfect body or enough money in our bank account or other ways we think we fall short. But when you take a moment to think about it, regardless of what is going on in the world or in your life, loving you is your most important defense to whatever happens.

Taking a couple of minutes to reflect on your own inner beauty each day (or throughout the day) is the way to open the doorway to your intuition (and boost your body’s immune system). Start the day by taking a few minutes to consciously tune into your body and silently tell all your cells, systems and organs, “I love you.” If this is new to you, you may be fighting all kinds of negative self-talk, your upbringing and/or social conditioning as you attempt to do it. Do it anyway.

“I must undertake to love myself and to respect myself as though my very life depends upon self-love and self-respect.” – Maya Angelou

Intuitive Strategist Sheree Franklin works with individuals and corporations. She is a career columnist with Black Enterprise and the author of Intuition: The Hidden Asset Everyone Should Learn to Use. To learn more about Franklin’s book go to www.amzn.to/1UxlWLG.

Sheree is also a practitioner at Holistic Health Practice at One East Superior, in Chicago. Her practice includes one-to-one coaching as well as corporate speaking events, workshops and facilitation.  For more information go to www.shereefranklin.com.