The Relationship Counsellor

All living organisms require attention to survive and thrive. Infants, children, adults, animals and even plants wither and wilt without sufficient care and attention. Attention is needed not only for our physical survival but also for our psychological health and wellbeing and is a necessary element for relationship health. How we provide and receive attention determines the nature and duration of our love relationship. In “What Brain Research Says About Paying Attention” Researchers Robert Sylwester and Joo-Yun Cho state, “Our ability to maintain attention is affected by normal cyclical fluctuations in the efficacy of the neurotransmitter molecules that chemically regulate attention.” In his neurological sleep studies Researcher J. Allan Hobson found that these fluctuations occur in ninety-minute cycles throughout each day. These findings are enlightening in understanding some individuals’ fatigue and need to withdraw from conversations or emotional exchanges when their atten