International Kissing Day takes place on 6 July in the UK. However, the day has now been adopted worldwide and is also known as National Kissing Day or Kissing Day.

When I think about it, the concept of a kiss is everywhere in society and has many meanings. A first kiss. A formal kiss. A passionate kiss. A kiss goodbye.

Kissing Day aims to make us appreciate a kiss in its own right. No conventions, no social norms, just a kiss. Across the globe we embrace the kiss by embracing someone else.

Competition to hold the record for the longest kiss is rife – on 6-7 July 2005 the record was set in the UK at 31 hours and 30 minutes. Then on Valentine’s Day 2009 Nikola Matovic and Kristina Reinhart from Germany set a new record of just over 32 hours.

On 13 February 2011, a Thai couple, husband and wife team Ekkachai and Laksana Tiranarat locked lips and began their quest to break the longest kiss record. After 46 hours and 24 minutes they claimed a new record for the longest kiss. Impressive!

Nonthawat Charoenkaesornsin and Thanakorn Sitthiamthong kissed their way to the title at an event in Pattaya, Thailand on 12-14 February 2012. But now the tables have turned and Ekkachai and Laksana Tiranarat successfully regained their crown on 12-14 February 2013 and the record for the longest kiss now stands at 58 hours, 35 minutes and 58 seconds – wow, that’s some kiss!

Perhaps you can get some kissing tips from a friend before puckering up. Or delve into one of the many kissing guides that proclaim to make you the world’s best kisser!

Think of your first kiss … was it all you expected and a treasured memory or were you too nervous to really care?

Think of your sweetest kiss … a kiss from your child? A thank you kiss from your closest friend? And think of all those supposedly meaningless kisses. Next time I kiss someone I will just think about how delightful it is and not about what it ‘means’.