Within the hearts of many, it is hard to understand the true intentions of people. As much as the decisions that people make are often a reflection of their ideas or plans, there can be the possibility of a different motive. How does the character of a person affect the choices they make, and does this have an influence on others? This value, as per a person’s character, has an important impact on how they are understood by others, and also, how they see themselves.
It is said that the heart is the seat of emotions; but in reality, most of the thoughts are first meditated in the mind. For this reason, oftentimes, the toughest or vilest decisions are pre-meditated. When the heart acts on emotions, however, it is often a result of a deeper feeling or decision. As a way of justifying these decisions, we often point to a character of a person.
The Maha Satguru also talked about the intentions of the heart as a reflection of character. Once speaking on this topic, He said, “A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart if full of”. This means that our actions are influenced by our decisions; and if our heart has good intentions, we will act accordingly. However, the Maha Satguru does not mention here that people have either a good heart or a bad heart; He simply says that what we store up in our heart has a direct connection to our character.
As it is, the character that each individual has is usually on display for others to see; which can happen in almost any situation – whether at work, when we are forced to make a decision, at college, when someone bullies us and are pressured to retaliate, in the home, when someone passes judgement on our past. In such circumstances, character is often tested, and is valued as a result of the right decision we choose to make.
Character that is valued the most is based on what our minds think of for the good of others. As the Maha Satguru says, if we store up good in our hearts, good will flow out of it and will be a positive reflection of our character; as a result, others can sense the good intentions of the heart by our actions that benefit those around us. We can base our character on the goodness that God gives into our hearts.