Jan. 7, 2025

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:


Greg

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.