EP 12. THE KISS - THE POWER OF KISSING ON PURPOSE AND HOW IT IMPACTS YOUR MARRIAGE
Kissing plays a crucial role in maintaining and enhancing the intimacy and connection in marriage, as discussed by Greg and Linda Smith on the Married and Love It podcast. They emphasize that kissing is more than just a romantic gesture; it serves as a form of preventive maintenance for relationships, fostering emotional and physical closeness. The couple shares personal anecdotes, including their own first kiss and the importance of spontaneity in expressing affection. They delve into the numerous benefits of kissing, such as boosting self-esteem, promoting happiness, and even improving health through the release of hormones like oxytocin and endorphins. Listeners are encouraged to make kissing a regular part of their daily routines, highlighting that small gestures can significantly strengthen their marital bond and ignite passion over the years.
In a heartfelt exploration of the importance of kissing within marriage, Greg and Linda Smith of the Married and Love It podcast highlight the profound impact that this simple act can have on a couple’s relationship. They begin with a charming anecdote about a tender moment shared at church, illustrating how affectionate gestures can enhance emotional connections and serve as a reminder of love. The Smiths advocate for viewing their podcast as a form of ongoing education for couples, emphasizing that regular engagement in affectionate behaviors, such as kissing, is crucial for maintaining intimacy and joy in a marriage. They argue that kissing acts as a form of preventive maintenance, helping couples to reconnect and nurture their relationship amidst the chaos of daily life.
As the conversation unfolds, Greg and Linda delve into the physiological and psychological benefits of kissing. They explain how kissing releases various hormones, including oxytocin and dopamine, which promote feelings of love, happiness, and connection. By sharing relatable stories and humor, they create an inviting atmosphere that encourages listeners to reflect on their own experiences with kissing. The hosts pose thought-provoking questions about the last memorable kiss a listener shared, prompting couples to consider how those moments impact their emotional well-being and relationship satisfaction. They stress that kissing is not merely a romantic gesture but a vital expression of commitment that can significantly influence the dynamics of a marriage.
The episode concludes with practical tips for couples to incorporate more kissing into their daily lives. The Smiths encourage their audience to be spontaneous, playful, and intentional in their affectionate interactions, reminding them that even small acts of love can have a lasting impact. They suggest that regular kissing can help prevent relationships from stagnating by keeping the initial spark alive. By promoting the idea of a daily ten-second kiss, the Smiths challenge couples to prioritize affection in their routines, ultimately reinforcing the message that love and connection can flourish through intentional, loving gestures. The insights shared throughout the episode serve as a powerful reminder of the significance of kissing and its role in nurturing a fulfilling marriage.
Takeaways:
- Kissing plays a significant role in maintaining emotional intimacy and connection between couples.
- It is essential to prioritize kissing as it can positively affect your relationship's health.
- The act of kissing can release hormones that enhance feelings of love and happiness.
- Consistent kissing fosters a deeper bond and strengthens marital commitment over time.
- Kissing is not only romantic but also has numerous physical health benefits worth exploring.
- Regular kisses can improve your mood and reduce stress, making them essential for a happy marriage.
Links referenced in this episode:
Welcome to the Married and Love it podcast.
Greg
We are Greg and Linda Smith, your host from Raleigh, North Carolina.
Greg
It is great that you are taking time to invest into your marriage by listening to our weekly podcast.
Greg
The goal of our podcast is to provide you with a weekly dose of marriage teaching to help you keep focused on your marriage.
Greg
See it as a freshening up of your marriage, preventive maintenance, a marriage tune up, or fanning the flames of romance, love and passion.
Greg
You could each call it continuing education.
Greg
We will be covering everything that has to do with your marriage, including hot topics like sex, communication, love, and much, much more.
Greg
Our teachings are based on Christian principles plus over 47 years of marriage to each other and ministry experience.
Greg
We want to help you make your marriage great by teaching you how to be married and loving.
Greg
It is an honor and privilege to to have you join us.
Linda
Some reasons that kissing is important to your marriage.
Linda
The kiss.
Greg
The kiss.
Greg
Oh, this is gonna be a good one.
Greg
It's gonna be fun and it's gonna be serious.
Greg
Because kissing plays a bigger role in our marriages than what we probably think about it.
Greg
And so today we're gonna get into that.
Greg
But first, I want to start off of a situation that happened at church this past week or two.
Greg
And Lynn and I were in the foyer and one of our friends walked up and we started talking.
Greg
And then all of a sudden, here she comes, my sweetie.
Greg
He may have said queen too, but it was definitely sweetie.
Greg
And his face got bright and he kind of like motioned for her to come on into our conversation.
Greg
And as she came up, he put his arm around her and pulled him, pulled her close and he planted a nice little peck on her forehead or face somewhere.
Greg
It wasn't a regular kiss, but and just said, my sweetie's here.
Greg
And he was grinning.
Greg
And it was just a very warm, affectionate encounter that we had with them.
Greg
There was some passion in there.
Greg
There was excitement coming in.
Greg
Do you remember that, Linda?
Linda
I do.
Linda
It was just real sweet.
Greg
And.
Linda
Yeah.
Greg
And that's what we want to get into on this kiss.
Greg
Because you know what?
Greg
Our relationships need to be playful.
Greg
We need to have connections going on.
Greg
There needs to be a freshness and a passion.
Greg
We need to be spontaneous.
Greg
I mean, they were.
Greg
That was a spontaneous encounter when she walked up.
Greg
And just recently they had put on their Facebook thing a little video of them in the kitchen cooking, I guess.
Greg
And then they had some music come on.
Greg
And she was kind of dancing around, and I'm thinking, is that them?
Greg
And it was really.
Linda
She was not aware that he was doing that, I found out later, and he might have been in the doghouse.
Greg
But it was really neat.
Greg
It was passionate, it was sweet, it was.
Greg
It was spontaneous, it was flirtatious.
Greg
And that's what God wants in our marriages.
Greg
And you know, where a lot of that starts, there's a lot of things that contribute to that.
Greg
But it comes even down to our kissing, which we're going to go into detail today.
Greg
Now I'm going to add another little bit to this story.
Greg
The couple I'm talking about have been married 50 years.
Greg
That's right, 50 years.
Greg
He's still passionate.
Linda
He's still the one.
Greg
She's still the one.
Linda
Still the one.
Greg
They're passionate.
Greg
You can see the love.
Greg
And their track record.
Greg
Is there.
Greg
Where are you at in your marriage today?
Greg
Is there passion?
Greg
Are we.
Greg
Are me and Linda spontaneous?
Greg
Are we doing the things we need to do?
Greg
And that's why we're going to take a little bit of time to talk about the kiss, because the kiss is more powerful than what you think it is.
Linda
I mean, I learned a lot when we were doing this study and everything.
Linda
That's very interesting.
Greg
Kiss all the time.
Greg
Well, I mean, it affects areas of our.
Greg
Our relationships.
Greg
And it's even put more of a challenge to me to be thinking about the kiss.
Greg
And it's not just to get hot and horny, to hop in bed.
Greg
There's a lot more to it than that.
Greg
But before we do that, I just want to encourage you to, whether it's the first time you've listened to this podcast or maybe you've listened to a few episodes, for you to see our podcast as a preventive maintenance process, it's continuing in education because we know not everybody has bad marriages or poor marriages.
Greg
You can have a good marriage or one that's just kind of getting there.
Greg
It's kind of mediocre.
Greg
But see this as continuing education.
Greg
All you got to do is once a week, put us on subscribe for our podcast and listen for 30 minutes a week while you're driving, washing clothes, mowing the lawn, shoveling snow, laying out by the pool, depending on when you listen to this so you can get some continuing education to get you see what happens.
Greg
You may not even be thinking about your marriage, but all of a sudden you hear us talking and it goes, oh, I need to do that, or that remind, or what we're saying reminds you of something else to work on on your marriage.
Greg
And then number two, as I encourage you to say, hey, hey, honey, or hey, dear, Whatever you call your spouse, say, why don't you try listening to this podcast?
Greg
If you'll listen to it, maybe we can sit down and have a discussion.
Linda
Or even listen to it together.
Greg
Listen to it together.
Linda
Is your.
Linda
If you're driving somewhere that length of time.
Greg
Yeah.
Linda
Yeah.
Greg
So do that.
Greg
So anyway, continuing education and invite your spouse to get involved with what you're listening to so you both can be the best you can be.
Linda
Well, let's go down memory lane.
Linda
Hey, do you remember, dear?
Linda
Our first kiss?
Greg
The first kiss.
Linda
Now, you say it one way and I remember it a different way, but I'm going to let you.
Greg
I think I like my way.
Linda
Well, I like my way, too.
Greg
Okay.
Linda
Okay.
Greg
But, you know, the first kiss.
Greg
You know, think about your first kiss as we're talking about this.
Greg
But I remember Linda and I had been meeting at the Rated G discotheque.
Greg
It's for people under 21.
Greg
And we met there.
Greg
And that's another story.
Greg
But we would after.
Greg
In between dances or after we dance for a while.
Greg
While I would just kind of shake and she would dance.
Greg
But we'd go outside walking.
Greg
And this is in Orlando.
Greg
We'd go across the street where there was a restaurant called Ronnie's, and we'd go walking back and forth, and we would hold hands and different things.
Greg
And then at the three or four times of us doing that, maybe I even went out and picked her up one time and Winter Garden brought her back.
Greg
But we went out to my car in the parking lot and we sat in because she wanted to see my car was a orange Pontiac Le Mans.
Greg
And she called it the Pumpkin Wasn't.
Greg
Real macho sound.
Linda
Yeah.
Linda
Because I thought of you as my Prince Charming.
Greg
That's true.
Linda
And I was Cinderella.
Greg
That's right.
Linda
But I didn't.
Linda
At midnight, I didn't, you know.
Greg
No, she didn't turn into a.
Linda
No, I didn't turn into a pumpkin.
Greg
No, no, no.
Greg
Yeah.
Greg
But yes.
Greg
So that was the car, and we started to kiss.
Greg
And at the same time we had that kiss, I had the radio on and the song Stairway to Heaven came on.
Greg
Now, that's a long song.
Greg
It's about six or seven minutes long.
Greg
We actually kissed the whole time of that song.
Greg
But what really got me is that was a sign that Linda was from God for me, because the song said Stairway to He.
Greg
So what more could a guy ask for?
Greg
Is she the one?
Linda
So that was our first kiss.
Greg
So that was our first kiss.
Linda
That's it.
Linda
So now.
Linda
So let y'all think about when do you remember when your first kiss was?
Linda
Think about that.
Greg
Yeah, that's something.
Greg
Sometimes I hear people get asked and they can't remember that first kiss.
Greg
They're like, but hopefully it is.
Greg
So my question is today, do you have kisses that you think about 30 minutes later, an hour later, all day long?
Greg
Maybe you had a kiss in the morning, maybe it's from the night before, you saw each other for lunch and you just go, that is just that special kiss and it just, it just lingers in you all and it makes you want another kiss.
Greg
Well, you see what happens are kissing can have ripple effects.
Greg
I talked about this on episode six, about the ten second kiss.
Greg
If you walk out the door in the morning to go to work, maybe you're both going to work or one of you, whatever, and you, you're upset, you're busy or just busy in a hurry and you rush out the door, say, hey babe, see you later, what's for dinner?
Greg
Pick up the kids, whatever you do.
Greg
And you go to work, you're rushed, maybe you were mad or upset.
Greg
What type of attitude do you carry into the office?
Greg
Because you're going to carry it with you.
Linda
You mean if you have had that special kiss?
Greg
If you haven't.
Linda
Oh, if you haven't.
Linda
Okay, gotcha.
Greg
If you haven't had that kiss.
Greg
But what if you take that time to do the ten second kiss?
Linda
Gotcha.
Greg
Instead of arguing or hurrying, you'd make a priority and you get a good kiss and then you walk out with a little skip in your walk, so to speak.
Greg
You got a smile on your face.
Linda
Yeah.
Greg
And it's.
Greg
And then you get to the office.
Linda
It sets the environment for your whole day.
Greg
The environment.
Greg
It can set the environment.
Greg
And then when it's a lifestyle, it becomes a habit and it impacts you even more.
Greg
Now what we want to look at is next is we're going to look at a little bit, go back in history a little bit during your dating days.
Greg
There's three things that we did when we were dating to, to develop our relationship.
Greg
Do you remember when you first started dating?
Greg
Before the first kiss, what did the guy or somebody do?
Greg
They reach over and held your hand.
Greg
And there was a fear of rejection that could even come up on that.
Linda
And it could be either way, that sometimes the girl might slip her hand over toward him.
Linda
But mostly the guy reaches over, she's anticipating the fact that he might grab her hand and hold it and he's.
Greg
Trying to get bold enough.
Greg
Then the next thing is the old, put the Arm around the shoulders.
Greg
If you're sitting on the couch or at the movie theater, you kind of yawn.
Greg
Oh.
Greg
And you reach around and you pull them in and at that point that the other person could resist or they just cuddle up a little closer or they grab your hand.
Greg
And that shows those two actions right there show that I like you.
Greg
It shows attraction.
Greg
I care.
Greg
You're mine.
Greg
I've got you.
Greg
But then as that relationship develops, what happens?
Greg
You see it in a Hallmark movie.
Greg
There's the kiss.
Greg
The kiss happens.
Greg
The kiss implies that you're giving more of yourself.
Greg
It shows a deeper commitment is forming.
Greg
Maybe it's not I love you yet, but I'm really liking you.
Greg
There's a seriousness coming because you made that.
Greg
There's something about giving yourself with your mouth and kissing and, and, and such that just signifies a stronger connecting it.
Greg
And eventually it's going to come out and say, I love you now.
Greg
Then in the natural course, once you get married, all that leads up to making love.
Greg
So it's like all of those other things become a form of foreplay to even help prepare you.
Greg
Because when you make love, that's the total commitment of your life and being to that person that you love and such.
Greg
Now, what happens in a lot of marriages is we get busy, other marital issues come in.
Greg
Maybe there's resentment, anger, frustrations, the garbage did getting take out, the clothes are still on the floor, the kids are upset, and what begins to slip.
Greg
Think about this in your relationship, in the holding, in the holding of the hands or putting your arms around each other and getting a kiss, what begins to happen, that begins to go on the back burner.
Greg
And then what happens?
Greg
All of a sudden somebody's wanting to make love and none of that other stuff has been happening on a regular basis.
Greg
There's not connections physically going on by holding hands or putting your arm around another or cuddling.
Greg
But yet if you're not kissing on a regular basis, that deeper emotional commitment, that giving of yourself that way has not been going on.
Greg
And so when you get hop in bed or wherever to make love, a lot of times it can be impacted for what because of not what you're not doing.
Greg
And it can become duty sex or vanilla sex or unpassionate sex.
Greg
So God's got a whole game plan.
Greg
But our topic tonight is not sex.
Greg
It's about the kiss.
Greg
And what we need to do a lot of times in our marriages is we need to go back to the basics.
Greg
We need to do what we began to do.
Greg
When we fell in love continue.
Greg
What we did in the first time we fell in love is we need to continue to do that.
Greg
So if you were holding hands, you were kissing, you were making out, you were cuddling up, we need to go back to that.
Greg
So that's our challenge with this.
Greg
Part of the challenge is to get us focused on our physical relationship, but with that kiss.
Greg
Kissing is probably the most important thing that you can do because of what it offers in your marriage relationship.
Greg
That kiss can take two seconds or it can take 10 minutes.
Greg
But so much happens when you kiss.
Greg
So that's what we're going to talk about for the rest of this podcast.
Greg
I think it's going to open your eyes.
Greg
Linda Spend gone through a lot of physical things lately.
Greg
So a lot of times we sit down in evenings and we.
Greg
We're going to watch TV or do something and we used to sit next to each other.
Greg
Well, actually, long before all of her surgeries, we could just sit each other, cuddle on the couch and do all that.
Greg
But over the last 13 years, she's had to sit.
Greg
We sit in two separate recliners.
Greg
Or now, because of her back or other situation, she would sit on the couch stretched out, and I would be in another chair and we weren't sitting next to each other.
Greg
And one day it dawned on me, I'm not even able to reach you over there.
Greg
And it's like, what are we doing?
Greg
And I actually got up and we had a new couch we got a couple years ago.
Greg
We figured out, oh, I know I can come over there and sit and do this.
Greg
And you know what?
Greg
What a world of difference.
Linda
Yeah, that was pretty nice.
Greg
I know.
Greg
And it's like.
Linda
And my love language or my.
Linda
Yeah.
Linda
Is physical touch.
Linda
So I was missing all that.
Linda
That all that whole time.
Greg
Me too.
Greg
I developed physical touch.
Greg
But my point being is all of a sudden the light bulb went off.
Greg
I said, why aren't you over there?
Greg
Improvise it the other way.
Greg
You've got this, you got room over there, Move over there.
Greg
And it allowed us to touch, hold hands.
Greg
It was easier for me to roll over, just not and just give her a kiss.
Greg
But a lot of times in our life we get so busy or we get caught in a routine and it's like that frog in the boiling water.
Greg
He doesn't know he's boiling until he's dead.
Greg
And we get busy and things to zap us and we go, wait a minute.
Linda
And then the marriage relationship suffers.
Greg
The marriage relation.
Greg
And all it takes is Little bit.
Greg
Little bit of adjustments.
Linda
Yeah.
Greg
So think about, are you doing the things that you need to do to express.
Greg
Express your love and commitment to each other and just bring yourself back to reality and do a honest heart check.
Greg
You know what?
Greg
I could kiss a little bit more.
Greg
Maybe I could hug a little bit more.
Greg
Maybe I can show more affection.
Greg
Maybe I can be more spontaneous.
Linda
And we're gonna slow down and not hurry out the door.
Greg
Yeah.
Greg
So now just to have a little fun, too, as we move on to the importance of kissing.
Greg
You know, kissing plays a major role in our lives, but it also, it plays a major role in events.
Greg
Let me ask you, we just had New Year's Eve, and what is the first thing people want to do on New Year's Eve?
Linda
When the stroke of midnight, what do.
Greg
They want to do?
Greg
Now some of y'all are already in bed and you don't know what happened.
Greg
But what happens?
Linda
The New Year's Eve kiss.
Greg
Now, I know some people just grab the first thing that comes across their lips, but we're talking about a husband and wife, right?
Greg
A New Year's Eve kiss can be romantic.
Greg
It's refreshing.
Greg
You know what?
Greg
It's.
Greg
It's a celebration time, and that's when we kiss a lot.
Greg
Well, you know what?
Greg
As married couples, we ought to have lots of many celebrations throughout the week that we can kiss about victories that you've had as a husband and wife or with your family, at your work, at home.
Greg
But then also it's the end of an old year and the beginning of a new year.
Greg
So as a couple, you're celebrating the old year and the new year.
Greg
But now, every day when you kiss, you can say, hey, the day's a new day.
Greg
Let's celebrate our love today, our new day.
Greg
And let's seal it with a kiss every day.
Greg
Do that.
Greg
It's a expressing of togetherness.
Greg
And even when you're kissing in the morning, starting your day, it's a flirtatious time.
Greg
And we'll may talk about that more.
Greg
But you know that kiss, the type of kiss you give, I mean, you can give a humdum kiss.
Greg
You can give a nice, warm, welcoming, wet kiss.
Greg
Or sometime that kiss can be very seductive.
Greg
Flirt a little bit.
Greg
Start your day off lots of different ways.
Greg
Now I'm getting ahead of myself.
Linda
Yep, you are.
Linda
Let's go back even a little bit further.
Linda
We.
Linda
We just got done celebrating Christmas.
Greg
Yes.
Linda
So what is the tradition of a kiss during the Christmas season?
Linda
Yeah, get under the mistletoe.
Linda
Right.
Linda
Kissing under the mistletoe.
Linda
Now, Greg set up a big, huge Christmas display, and part of that display was a kissing booth, so to speak.
Greg
Yeah.
Linda
Tell me about that kissing booth.
Linda
What.
Linda
What did all that.
Greg
Well, you know, that kiss under the mistletoe is also a time of celebration just to add on to what we're talking about together.
Greg
And it's still a time for.
Greg
At the holidays for a couple, they take that moment under the mistletoe to express love and commitment.
Linda
Yeah.
Linda
It's to bring joy and warmth into the season.
Greg
But you know what?
Greg
We don't have to wait till New Year's and mistletoe time to do that.
Linda
That's right.
Greg
But, yes, we have this little booth, our mailbox gazebo for our townhouse area.
Greg
And I got place people can take a picture of Mickey Mouse.
Greg
The little kids do that, and big kids.
Greg
But I have mistletoe hanging up there.
Greg
And couples will come in and get a mistletoe.
Linda
Yeah, I mean, get a kiss under the advertise.
Linda
Yeah.
Linda
Steal a kiss with your spouse.
Greg
And a lot of times I'm taking family pictures, and I say, now there is mistletoe up there.
Greg
And they go.
Greg
They'll look up kind of sheepishly and.
Greg
And they'll grab a kiss, and maybe they're holding their baby, but they'll still get a kiss.
Greg
But I remember this one time there was a young couple, and I said, y'all, there's mistletoe up there.
Greg
You want to get a picture?
Greg
And the husband goes, just a young couple.
Greg
The husband goes, nah, nah, I don't want to do that.
Greg
And the wife looked at me, and she was very disappointed.
Greg
So they walked on our sidewalk and went around the curve to the other units where my displays at.
Greg
And about four or five minutes they came later.
Greg
And the husband goes, we'll get that kiss under the mistletoe.
Greg
Now, I don't know what happened, but I think he had to come to Jesus moment with his spouse and got the.
Greg
The Bill of Rights because they got the kiss.
Greg
But sometimes people don't want to get a kiss or they're shy or whatever.
Greg
That's part of being spontaneous, you know?
Greg
But don't worry about what people think if they see you kissing.
Linda
Yeah.
Linda
You know, it should be natural.
Linda
And, you know, we don't have to wait to be under the mistletoe to steal a kiss.
Linda
Like, just living our life as a.
Linda
As a couple.
Linda
We should look for ways when we're at home or maybe when we're out and about, maybe we're grocery shopping.
Linda
In an empty aisle and picking out groceries, we'll stop and steal a kiss.
Linda
You know, like, here's an example of something Greg and I have always done.
Linda
Well, when we're walking down the hallway, if I'm headed to the bedroom and he's headed to the front of the house and we kind of get stuck in the hallway, I'm like, I.
Linda
I'll say to him, wait, wait, wait.
Linda
It's going to cost you a kiss to get through.
Linda
Instead of 25 cents, you got to pay a kiss.
Linda
Oh, so a lot.
Linda
We've always done that.
Greg
I'll give her a tip.
Greg
I'll give her two kisses.
Linda
For him to get through the hallway and get to where he wants to go, he's got to stop and give me a kiss.
Greg
Yeah.
Linda
So these are just fun examples to keep the spark going in your life.
Greg
Yeah.
Greg
And you know, even what was fun doing that mistletoe booth is sometimes I would get a picture or see couples doing their kiss.
Greg
And actually like in the movie sometimes where the girls will lift up their.
Linda
Kick up their leg, up their back.
Greg
Winter their legs and heels, and there would actually be people that would do that.
Greg
I mean, it's.
Greg
It really.
Linda
That is funny.
Greg
But you know, I.
Greg
I'd even say on Christmas, next Christmas, go on a missile.
Greg
I mean, actual mistlet, mistletoe hunt with your spouse.
Linda
Scavenger hunt for a missile.
Greg
When you go, if you're out shopping, you're at people's houses or church somewhere, look for the mistletoe and get you a kiss.
Linda
See how many, you know what, Bring a mistletoe.
Greg
There you go.
Greg
Take the mistletoe with you.
Greg
Look for ways limitize.
Greg
Sometimes we'll go shopping and we used to call it going Kroger.
Greg
And we'd get hugs.
Greg
But grab a kiss.
Greg
Be spontaneous.
Greg
There's something about it.
Greg
Now I think we're to the point.
Greg
Oh, we got one more part of this.
Linda
Yep.
Linda
Before we get into the significance of.
Greg
The kiss, but when you got married, what was the first thing they said?
Linda
What the.
Greg
After they said, Mr.
Greg
And Mrs.
Greg
Smith, you're.
Linda
I now pronounce you man and wife.
Linda
You may.
Linda
What?
Greg
Yes, your bride.
Linda
You may now kiss the bride.
Greg
And that showed a commitment.
Greg
Love and commitment.
Greg
And it symbolizes that that should go on through the rest of our life.
Greg
So every time we're kissing, we're replaying that kiss after we said I do.
Greg
Because what you say to your spouse when you take time to give them a kiss, you're saying, I love you.
Greg
I am Committed to you.
Greg
I'm giving myself to you.
Linda
It was sealing the vows with a kiss.
Linda
It's like some.
Linda
In a business relationship, you seal the with a handshake in the covenant that you're giving.
Linda
That's right.
Linda
So it's kind of confirming the covenant and sealing it with the kiss.
Greg
So you could actually kind of say when you kiss during the day, at any time when you're kissing, especially that first time you're doing a daily vow renewal, that I'm committed to you.
Linda
That's good.
Greg
I'm here for you.
Greg
I'm going to back you up like that, serve you.
Greg
I'm going to be here, come blank or how high water.
Greg
High water.
Greg
Whatever you want to call it, I'm here for you when I kiss you.
Greg
That's what I'm saying.
Linda
So every morning, spoken vow.
Linda
Yep, that's right.
Linda
So every morning when you get up and every night when you go to bed, kiss me.
Linda
And we got a little sign in our bedroom.
Linda
It says, kiss, always kiss me good night.
Greg
All right.
Linda
So that's what we do.
Greg
And that's on both sides of the bed?
Linda
Yep.
Linda
It's on Greg's side and on my side we have identical little bedroom signs.
Linda
And it says, kiss, always kiss me good night.
Linda
Well, like Greg said in the morning, that's great.
Linda
To welcome the day with your spouse that you're going to be together, enjoy the good day together, expresses the love and the affection.
Linda
It has an impact on your emotional, physical and physical wellbeing.
Linda
Wouldn't you say so, dear?
Linda
Yeah.
Linda
That works to make.
Linda
Bring that environment of excitement and joy already.
Linda
It makes you feel good about yourself and your day.
Greg
Yes.
Linda
And your marriage relationship.
Linda
It's going to strengthen your marriage relationship.
Linda
But some of the things I mentioned, there's a physical benefit of kissing.
Greg
Oh, this is really good right here.
Linda
But the physical benefit of kissing that we discovered and they.
Linda
This has been medically proven.
Linda
Well, excuse me.
Linda
The.
Linda
The lips have more nerve endings than any other part of our body.
Linda
And when we press them against another set of lips, well, then that just ignites those nerve endings.
Linda
It makes.
Linda
It creates a feel good feeling.
Greg
It's a feel good feeling.
Greg
That's right.
Greg
It feels good when you kiss.
Linda
And years ago, I had some permanent makeup done and I had my lips lined with the permanent makeup.
Linda
And I had spoke to the.
Linda
My artist, my permanent makeup artist, and she had asked me, what do you think of your face?
Linda
What do you think would be the most painful part on your face to get permanent makeup?
Linda
And I Gave a different examples.
Linda
And she said, no, your lips, your lips are the most sensitive.
Linda
And she even brought out and confirmed that our lips.
Linda
And I'm telling you what.
Linda
Yeah, it was a little bit painful.
Linda
It.
Linda
Well, so I experienced it.
Linda
Yeah, right there.
Linda
Yeah.
Greg
You know, on that point of, of the nerves, you know, the female lips are both male and female lips are very high with the nerves that bring pleasure.
Greg
But also in our.
Greg
If we get into our sex life with the erroneous zone, especially with the female and her areas of pleasure, which we'll get into that another time.
Greg
But that area has over 8,000 nerve endings in it for pleasure.
Linda
Wow.
Greg
God has designed us as human beings to have pleasure and it doesn't cost us anything.
Greg
He's given it to us and he's just saying kiss, just kiss, make love.
Greg
It feels good and get the benefits.
Greg
Because some of the benefits of kissing can tie in even to when we have sex and make love.
Greg
So it's really exciting.
Greg
So what happens when we get so busy and distracted, let anger, bitterness, busyness come in.
Greg
We are stealing from ourselves of what God wants us to enjoy.
Linda
Also, part of the physical benefits of kissing is it stimulates the production of hormones.
Greg
Yes.
Linda
So are you wanting to get into that right now?
Linda
Okay, so what about the love hormone oxytocin?
Greg
So when you're kissing, oxytocin, the love hormone, gets released, which releases the feelings of love and strengthens the bond with the partner, with your spouse.
Greg
So as you're kissing, you're getting drugged on them.
Linda
Yeah, that's right.
Linda
You're drugging each other in the love.
Greg
So that's why God wants us kissing, because that produces that.
Greg
It's not just that first year.
Greg
Yeah, you get it when you first get married.
Greg
But even when you've been married 50 years, like this couple we were talking about earlier, you still get that feeling.
Linda
And another one is happy hormone.
Greg
That's it.
Linda
That's endorphins.
Linda
And that is responsible for the feelings of happiness.
Linda
So if you're down and out, well, you know what, find your spouse and give them kiss.
Linda
Get them to kiss you.
Greg
Yes.
Linda
On the lips.
Linda
It brings about that feeling of well being and it, and it also operates as a painkiller for the body.
Linda
Naturally, those endorphins.
Linda
Now I know a lot of people, if you're athletic, you've learned about that.
Linda
And when you exercise, how the endorphins are released.
Linda
But that's true too, with the kissing, it's responsible for creating feelings of happiness.
Greg
Yeah, yeah.
Greg
And the Next one is dopamine, which we could call a brain hormone.
Greg
And that stimulates the pleasure center of the brain.
Greg
It's released when you do something that feels good like kissing and spending time with your spouse.
Linda
Then we also have, which this is awesome for women that have trouble sleeping.
Linda
You take Sarah, you need serotonin in your bodies, but so do men.
Linda
And that's considered the calming hormone.
Linda
And it doesn't have to just be when you're sleeping, but it can be throughout the whole day.
Linda
If you're anxious and on edge, well, grab your spouse and give them the kiss it creates.
Linda
It lowers the, the chemical lowers.
Linda
This feel good chemical lowers the cortisol levels that you have in your body.
Linda
In women, we know what that means.
Linda
Cortisol causes you to gain weight or to keep the weight from coming off.
Linda
If you're working on that, it doesn't let you relax.
Linda
So kiss and then it's gonna, you're gonna find in your body that's releasing that common hormone.
Linda
Also there's.
Greg
Linda's gonna get into some more benefits.
Greg
But I want to say this before I don't remember it, but just, just a little bit of that we shared right here.
Linda
Do you need the brain hormone?
Greg
Yes.
Linda
But.
Greg
But look at how God created us a simple thing as a kiss.
Linda
How neat is that?
Greg
And all it takes, we'll talk about is the ten second kiss.
Greg
But just taking times throughout your day.
Greg
And it's not just selfish motives because you may enjoy this, but look at when you go to kiss your spouse.
Greg
You go out of your comfort zone.
Greg
Maybe in a.
Greg
Maybe you're at the store or they're.
Greg
You're rushing off to work.
Greg
Don't be selfish because when we get the selfish with our affection and kisses, we're robbing them of these blessings.
Greg
And now this is really interesting.
Greg
I never heard this before.
Greg
What Linda's getting ready to share, right?
Linda
It's okay.
Linda
Smooching.
Linda
Oh.
Linda
If you're consistent with your smooching, especially if it's romantic type smooching and kissing, besides the happy hormones and bonding, it improves your self esteem.
Linda
That's, that's, you know, there's a lot of women that there have low self esteem and men too.
Linda
So it improves your self esteem.
Linda
It helps you to handle stress and anxiety.
Linda
We talked a little about that.
Linda
But get this.
Linda
It also helps your blood pressure and women, it helps to relieve cramps and headaches.
Linda
So how.
Linda
So many times when you go to make love and kissing is a part of it and you're like Oh, I have a headache.
Linda
Well, start kissing and that headache should go away.
Linda
But menstrual cramps, if you're having to work with having to deal with that, grab your spouse and tell them I want to kiss.
Linda
And just.
Linda
It's like taking a pain pill.
Linda
And then it also helps to strengthen your immune system.
Linda
I'm all about health and how we can strengthen our body naturally.
Linda
It helps you to deal with allergies.
Linda
I had never known that until we did this study.
Linda
I thought this was pretty cool.
Greg
I knew orgasms and stuff can do things, but I never just knew even the part of kissing, actual just that kiss.
Linda
It helps you to control your cholesterol levels.
Linda
Now this threw me off.
Linda
This was amazing.
Linda
It helps with whether you have cavities in your teeth or not or develop cavities in your teeth.
Linda
Now can you believe that?
Linda
That is.
Linda
That was incredible.
Greg
That ties into this extra saliva.
Greg
We don't have time to explain how this happens.
Linda
And it increases your libido.
Greg
Yes.
Linda
Did I say that right?
Linda
Kiss me.
Linda
It also women were always not wanting to get wrinkles or our face to start sagging or all that.
Linda
It actually helps with your muscle tone in your face face and it helps when you work out.
Linda
That is amazing.
Linda
Yes, that's pretty cool.
Linda
So women, you know before you send your spouse off or you go about or you're headed both to a workout session before that get that kiss.
Linda
So there's, there's.
Linda
Those are some of the other benefits that are helpful and there's some more.
Linda
But we'll just wait that so for another day teaching on that can if.
Greg
You list look at what we're talking about here with the benefits of kissing, especially how it affects you physically.
Greg
And then if you actually go into all the benefits that come from making love and what happens with an orgasm and other things.
Greg
This is the fountain of youth.
Linda
Oh yeah, it sure is.
Linda
There's so many pills they say is out there that is like the fountain of youth.
Linda
And here we are right there.
Greg
God has designed us in our marriage unions to do the self medicate, so to speak.
Greg
And we're with our spouse and, and doing these different things.
Greg
And then you're working on your emotional intimacy and your, your mental and all your capacities.
Greg
Then you get on board in the spiritual side of things.
Greg
God has designed it where we can even be more healthy in all these areas by walking in love and putting on love and kissing and holding each other and fondling one another.
Greg
God's got an awesome plan.
Greg
We just got to slow down and say, what's God's plan for this?
Greg
And be intentional and on purpose and disguise the limit on what we can experience in our marriages.
Greg
Maybe that's what this couple at church was talk involved in maybe just maybe.
Linda
50 years looking forward to their Sunday afternoon.
Greg
Yes.
Linda
Right.
Greg
Yes.
Greg
All right.
Linda
Well, I'm a productive person.
Greg
Yeah.
Linda
So when I get educated and I see the productivity of a kiss homework.
Linda
Yeah.
Linda
But just besides the pleasure that it's going to create, then it makes me want to be even more double.
Linda
Double productive.
Greg
Yeah.
Greg
Definitely.
Linda
The kiss.
Greg
Well, let's look at a couple examples of kisses in the Bible.
Greg
We went over this in episode six, a little bit more on the ten second kiss.
Greg
But I just want to share part of that.
Greg
Here's some attitudes of the husband and wife.
Greg
The bride, it says in song of Solomon 1, 2 verses 1, chapter 1, verse 2 says, she says, may he kiss me with the kisses of his mouth, for your love is better than wine.
Greg
And then also from song of Solomon 5, verse 16, it says, his mouth is full of sweetness and he is wholly desirable.
Greg
This is my beloved and this is my friend.
Greg
Look at that attitude she has about kissing.
Greg
And we're not going to go into it, but you can look at how it ties into wine and what things were going on back that day and why they use those words.
Greg
But there's an anticipation and that's the way God wants us to be anticipating our spouse.
Greg
And it does help when your person is acting in the right manners.
Greg
But you know what, if you just lay aside some of that stuff and say, I'm desiring my spouse and you start doing a lot of these things, it's going to change attitudes and actions in all different areas of your life.
Greg
And then the husband says in song of Solomon 4:11, it says, your lips, my bride or my wife, drip honey.
Greg
Honey and milk are under your tongue.
Greg
I don't think that's an example of a quick peck on the cheek.
Linda
No.
Greg
It's probably a little longer type kiss that they're enjoying together.
Greg
So if you're, if you're having this attitude about kissing and you're developing a passionate love lifestyle and serving one another and loving and, and submitting it.
Greg
Actually when you come together and start kissing, you're, you're actually submitting your other areas of your commitment.
Greg
I believe this verse can explain the attitude you're going to have in your marriage on a regular basis.
Greg
Solomon 7, 10 says, I am my beloved and his desire is for me.
Greg
Come, my beloved, let us go out into the country.
Greg
Let us go to the Hilton.
Greg
Let us spend the night in the villages.
Greg
Let us rise early and go to the vineyards.
Greg
Let us see whether the vine is budded and its blossoms have opened and whether the promigrant has bloomed there.
Greg
I will give you my love.
Greg
Now these are the same two that talked about kissing a little bit earlier.
Greg
Think about that and meditate on that.
Linda
Well, we've got some additional reasons why kissing is so important.
Linda
And this has been adapted from the.
Linda
It's called the Heartstring Journal.
Greg
Yeah, a few of these.
Greg
And we added some different aspects to this, but it continues on on the importance of kissing.
Linda
So number one, it reminds your spouse that he or she is your lover.
Linda
Not.
Linda
Not just a parent or a child that you have or a parent to your children or a roommate.
Greg
Yeah, kissing when you wake up and when you go to sleep makes you both start and end the day.
Greg
Right.
Greg
What a way to wake up and go to sleep.
Linda
Just like we talked about that.
Linda
Right.
Linda
Kissing communicates to your spouse that still warmth in the marriage.
Linda
And when a couple is drifting apart, one of the first things that's going to suffer is kissing.
Greg
That's a good red flag to look at is that drifting and are you kissing because kissing brings you back the home plate.
Linda
That's gonna get you.
Linda
That's true.
Greg
The whole base.
Greg
If you go around the bases, that's another topic.
Greg
Kissing is part of making out.
Greg
Yes.
Greg
You as a married couple should be making out.
Greg
That's not a 10 second kiss.
Greg
That may be a 5, 10, 15, 20 make out.
Linda
Yeah, you can kiss at the red light, but you got to kind of watch.
Greg
That's another good point.
Greg
When was the last time you kissed at a red light?
Linda
I don't know.
Linda
Yeah, think about that.
Greg
Right.
Greg
Of course now with bucket seats, it's harder to do.
Linda
That is.
Greg
All right, so.
Greg
But yet when you're making out, if that doesn't mean you're gonna make love or anything, you're just having a good old kissing making out session.
Linda
So when you greet each other after being apart for a while, whether you're at home or away from the home, kissing is always a great welcome.
Greg
Kissing says I love you.
Linda
Kissing also promotes emotional intimacy.
Linda
Conversations become more heartfelt when a couple embraces kissing and you, you bond together better.
Greg
Kissing promotes spiritual intimacy.
Greg
When a couple kisses after praying to say amen, they value praying together more.
Greg
It's another ceiling.
Greg
You're sealing that prayer time together by kissing and saying, we're committed, we're going to see this thing through, this prayer come through.
Linda
Kissing releases tension and enables a couple that is needing to have a difficult conversation in a more relaxed atmosphere.
Linda
Imagine talking heavy stuff with random kisses here and there.
Linda
That's going to lighten that a little bit, don't you think, dear?
Greg
Yeah, it's.
Greg
It's.
Greg
The Bible says you can stop an argument by shutting your mouth.
Greg
But you know what?
Greg
You start putting a wet one on your spouse when you're arguing, that's going to quit the arguing.
Linda
Very good point.
Greg
Kissing makes your spouse feel wanted and desired.
Greg
And I.
Greg
That is definitely true.
Linda
I agree with that.
Linda
Kissing in heightens sexual intimacy as part of foreplay.
Greg
And kissing is an activity you do exclusively that makes you both happy.
Linda
It also promotes romance and passion.
Linda
It can also be flirtatious and seductive.
Greg
So remember this, that kissing is one of the most significant elements of marriage.
Greg
And these things we talked about are reminders for us not to ignore kissing because we want to have that happy and healthy relationship.
Linda
Yes, that's good.
Greg
So in closing, we want to bring out a few more points and then we'll be done.
Greg
So you can go do your homework.
Greg
Just remember this.
Greg
Consistent kissing.
Greg
Now I'm saying consistence.
Greg
One little package.
Linda
It's a habit.
Greg
A habit brings passion and longevity and satisfaction in a marriage.
Greg
It must be intentional.
Linda
That's it.
Linda
I was gonna say, and I would.
Greg
Say, as we've been talking about this topic for the last two or three weeks, Linda and I talking about this, it's got me more aware of opportunities that take that time to give Linda a kiss.
Greg
I mean, we've had a pretty good kissing through the years, but it's, it's, it's making me more aware where I said, you know what?
Greg
I just missed an opportunity where I could have given Linda a kiss.
Greg
Be spontaneous, be creative.
Greg
Let your passion speak and be focusing on your spouse.
Greg
And now, here's a couple housekeeping things.
Greg
Kissing.
Greg
These kissing guidelines apply even if you're not a physical touch person.
Greg
I hear a lot of people say, I don't like physical touch.
Greg
I'm not into kissing.
Greg
Well, that's true.
Greg
Some people may not just get off on kissing, but you know what?
Greg
Your marriage needs it.
Linda
Do it for your marriage relationship.
Greg
Do it for your marriage and your spouse.
Greg
Because if you don't, your spouse is going to be hurting.
Greg
You need to have what kissing bring.
Greg
But kissing brings.
Linda
Yeah, you don't even realize what you're missing or how it's affecting your marriage relationship.
Greg
Yes.
Linda
So communicate.
Linda
Like if you're not a person that you really like to kiss.
Linda
Or, or maybe you don't like how your spouse kisses you.
Linda
We'll talk about it.
Linda
Communicate.
Linda
Not when you're in the middle of trying to kiss with each other or whatever, but we'll sit down sometime.
Linda
But you know what?
Linda
That's what we just got done talking about is you.
Linda
If there's a difficult conversation that needs to take place.
Greg
Yeah.
Linda
Start it out with a kiss.
Greg
Right.
Greg
This is.
Greg
And if, let's say you're kissing a spouse and they want to slip their tongue in your mouth right away, you say, you know what, dear?
Linda
Slow down.
Greg
I like prince kissing.
Greg
Or I like that.
Greg
But don't.
Greg
Every time we kiss, you don't have to do that.
Greg
Or maybe close your mouth more or brush your teeth.
Greg
Well, that's coming up next.
Greg
Talk about, and maybe you may have to practice especially the people that have been married shorter periods of time.
Greg
Now some of y'all that have been married a long time could have forgotten how to kiss.
Greg
So got to work on that too.
Greg
Make sure you have good hygiene for this.
Linda
That's right.
Greg
I mean you're not always going to be perfect.
Greg
But don't eat a bunch of fajitas with onions and go try to smooch on your spouse.
Greg
Maybe put a breath mint in real quick.
Linda
Get a mint.
Linda
Yeah.
Greg
And then the next thing is prime the pump.
Greg
Have you ever, you know the story of the water pump that's out in the farmyard somewhere and you got to pour some water in it and you got to start pumping it to get the pump, the water to come up from the ground.
Greg
And then once you get that pump going and the water comes out, it's going to keep going.
Greg
But if you stop pumping, the water goes back down and then you got to do all start all over again.
Greg
Same way with kissing.
Greg
Develop a habit of getting your kissing going more.
Linda
Be more consistent, be more consistent with.
Greg
It because as soon as you start slowing down, you're going to start going backwards.
Greg
Develop new habits because the more you do it, the more it's going to come more natural for you.
Greg
There was a study, well, there was a study back in 2013 that shows that couples in a long term relationships who freak who frequently kissed reported increased relationship satisfaction.
Linda
Yeah, that steady pace of kissing after, after the initial spark fizzles like say you get married and then you just start ignoring that kissing that you enjoyed early in your marriage.
Greg
That ties into where people say after 18 months or so your hormones wear off.
Greg
But you can keep those Hormones, you.
Linda
Can keep them going.
Linda
That's right.
Linda
And that's what that stuff study was showing.
Linda
That was really good.
Greg
Yeah.
Linda
And kissing makes you feel good about yourself and it's actually going to strengthen your marriage relationships so much that you're going to want to do it on a regular basis.
Linda
So kiss and kiss often.
Linda
It's good for you.
Greg
Just like the tennis shoe company says, just do it.
Greg
And then there's this one attitude where it says, if it feels good, do it.
Greg
This is the one that you can do it.
Linda
Do it.
Greg
Now we've got a couple honeydews.
Linda
As we close up, there's also a song.
Linda
I love this oh yeah.
Linda
Song.
Linda
It's by Sixpence and Sixpence.
Linda
The title is Kiss Me.
Linda
So I'm not gonna sing it for you.
Linda
No, but check it out.
Linda
See if you can listen to the.
Linda
I love it.
Greg
It just talks about being silly and.
Linda
Kissing different things while you're dancing and stuff.
Greg
So, yeah.
Linda
So yes, we do have some honeydews.
Linda
So I'll work on being aware of opportunities like we talked earlier, to kiss your spouse.
Linda
Get creative.
Linda
You know, it doesn't have to just be as you're going in and out of the door.
Linda
Think about times during your day when you're together, when you can just like if you're cooking together, stop for a minute and just steal a kiss.
Linda
Do it.
Linda
Just do it because it's fun.
Linda
So work at being creative instead.
Linda
Seek those opportunities.
Linda
Instead of saying, oh, I missed an opportunity.
Linda
Seek those opportunities to steal a kiss with your spouse.
Greg
I would reach over and kiss you right now, but you're too far across the aisle and our headphones would get tangled.
Linda
Our studio table is way far apart from each other, right?
Greg
So honey, do number two, which we tell everybody every time, is do your 10 seconds kiss.
Linda
If you've heard our program before, you always know we close it out with that 10 second kiss reminder.
Greg
Walk up to your spouse and say, hey, Siri, set my timer for 10 seconds and get a 10 second kiss or longer.
Linda
And with that, I think I'll go steal me a kiss.
Greg
Amen.
Greg
So we'll see.
Greg
Talk to you next week.
Linda
Talk to you next week.
Linda
Have a great one.
Greg
Thank you for investing into your marriage by listening to the Married and Love it podcast.
Greg
Be sure to be a part of the ripple effect of making marriage great by sharing this podcast with other couples to equip them to be married and love it to the max.
Greg
Also, subscribe to and follow us on your favorite platform and be sure to check out our website at www.marriedandlovet.com where you can learn more about Married and Lovett and contact us with any questions or comments that you may have.
Greg
And remember with God that you have a future and a hope and you can be married in Lovett on purpose.