The calendar just turned a page into the new year? Where do you stand with your relationships? Are there things you wish someone had talked over with you prior to this? Are you moving into a new relationship? Do believe that long-term relationships are a thing of the past? A couple in my church just celebrated their 70th anniversary. Can we talk?
In my last update, we discussed the definition of enduring love. Let me put before you the results of a study that tried to establish the markings of emotional connection.
From the book:
“The shortness of breath at the nearness of our loved one and the eye twinkle at the thought of our next meeting are highlights of loving, not to be diminished. The experience warrants honor, and its duration should be cherished. However, its brevity is sure. The initial buzz of ‘being in love’ lasts maybe two years. Thought processes have to switch from attraction to attachment in order to foster long-term success.
‘Additionally, the study shows that, unlike findings for newly in love individuals, long-term love shows activation in the brain regions associated with attachment and liking. As we have seen, liking is very important to friendship-based love. Thus, long-term romantic love that is both intense and close is sustained through the co-existence of wanting motivations and rewards, as well as through liking and attachment bonding. Previous studies have suggested that it can take almost two years to form enduring attachment bonds. This could explain why individuals newly in love do not reflect the same neural activity for liking and attachment as for individuals in long-term romantic love since bonds take time to develop.'” (Acevedo BP, Aron A, Fisher HE, Brown LL. (2011) Neural correlates of long-term intense romantic love. “Social Cognition and Affective Neuroscience .” doi:
10.1093/scan/nsq092)
Once the ‘in love’ period comes to its inevitable ebb, we begin to believe love is gone, never to rise again. If we fall for this deception, we have kissed the frog. We believe that with a kiss, we can make this Froggie love last a princely long time.” (Taylor, Joy S., Before You Kiss the Frog…Can We Talk?, Lily of the Valley Publishing Services, 2025, Indiana, p. 16- 17.)
Are you ready to develop relationships as God directs? If you are a parent of teens, get this book and go through it page-by-page along with them. If you are an adult who works with teens or college students, buy this book and study it with them. If you are a grandparent, buy this book and speak into the lives of your grands.
It is a little book with a lot of insight!
Do you struggle with relationships? The decision trees in this book will change your perspective and give you a path to more successful relationships.
Buy the book on Amazon . https://business.amazon.com/abredir/author/joystaylor
#BeforeYouKisstheFrog
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Joy S. Taylor is a mother, grandmother, and great grandmother. Her workdays were spent using the Master of Science in Accounting degree she earned at the age of, well, greater than 40. She led a divorce recovery support group sponsored by her church for seven years, and spent more than a decade in leadership roles for Celebrate Recovery. Now retired, she concentrates on writing from her beloved hickory grove in Indiana, yet devotes some of her time to volunteering for Care Net.