The heart is the seat of the soul, as Aristotle put it. It was where intelligence, sensation, and motion resided. Galen, the Roman physician whose ideas were to dominate medical science in the western world for over 1,300 years, thought that the heart was the body’s source of heat and the organ most closely aligned with the soul.
Eleventh-century Persian philosopher and early Islamic metaphysicist Ibn Sina, also known as Avicenna, saw the nature of Being as less visceral. At a stretch, it could be said that he was contemplating what it meant when you have a good heart.
Fast-forward to the twenty-first century. It would seem that human beings are no closer to explaining the mysteries of life, but we do have a few practical guidelines for figuring out if someone is a good-hearted person. And we can do this without going all heavy-duty on the philosophy side of things.
1. Helpful People Have a Good Heart
The first indicator that you’re in the presence of someone with a good heart is that they are generally helpful. This kind of helpfulness is more than carrying someone’s shopping bags for them, opening a door for someone, or helping the old person across the street.
Helpful people observe these things and offer assistance when appropriate, sure. These are the people who offer you a lift to the airport, water your plants or feed your animals when you’re away. They visit you in the hospital. Helpful people with good hearts will spend time listening to your problems on the phone. As children, they willingly explain things to kids who don’t understand their schoolwork. As adults, they give of their time to a worthy cause as hands-on volunteers. If they really are too busy, they will give money, and spread the word so that others give money too.
2. Good-Hearted Laughter
A man with a good heart laughs a lot. So does a woman with a good heart. They never laugh at the expense of others, and both are capable of having enormous fun –often without spending much money.
Despite their love of laughter, many good-hearted people suffer loneliness. This can be due to a host of factors, and that’s why a dating site Promenad can help good-hearted folk find friendship and love, and someone to share their sense of fun.
3. If You Have a Good Heart You Like to Please People
There are two sides to your caring nature. On the one hand, you notice where help is needed, and do your best to fulfill that need in others. You see this as a kind of practical necessity and don’t particularly need thanks for it since you gain satisfaction that with your help the situation is as it should be.
On the other hand, your desire to please others can be something of a negative trait if you try too hard to please people who you simply cannot please. Needing people to be pleased with you can be dangerous if this is your sole source of happiness. People with a good heart often have to teach themselves to do things for their own sake, and not because it might please someone like a parent, sibling, or friend.
When the need to please people becomes your chief motivation for doing things, that’s when others (whose hearts are not always that good) will take advantage of you. So, by all means, do things to please people, but watch out for those users.
4. A Truly Good-Hearted Person is Compassionate
We often hear people expressing sympathy for someone’s difficulties or some incidental disaster in their lives. It’s easy to give sympathy; thanks to social conventions, even insincere people can convey sympathy in a socially acceptable way.
The next hardest quality on the compassion spectrum is empathy. This is the capacity to feel and understand what someone else is experiencing from their point of view and from where they are coming from. This is the proverbial ability “to walk a mile in another person’s shoes”.
Naturally empathetic people are said to be emotionally intelligent, a phrase which encapsulates the two elements of empathy: the emotions and the intellect. Being empathetic can involve our mind doing a lot of rationalizing on top of a foundation of basic good-heartedness. The fact that people are trained to show empathy in the workplace lends ample support to that assertion.
Compassion is the hardest to master, but the simplest, most forceful type of love known to humankind. Compassion is ascribed to deities in the major religions of the world. The truly good-hearted possess this rare, radiant gift to “suffer with”, to care in a way that transcends being human to attain a spirituality that is inspiring.
5. Forgiveness Comes from a Good Heart
People with a good hard forgive easily. They rarely hold grudges. And they normally display low levels of resentment. Don’t be fooled, though. Everyone has a line that you shouldn’t cross. Only good-hearted people seem to be more tolerant since they understand the value of harmony.
6. Loyal Ranks High for the Good-Hearted
Those with a good heart are loyal to their family, to their friends, and to themselves. That said, they normally do put themselves last, which makes them easier to live with. When they fall in love, they put their whole heart into the relationship. The same is true when they commit to a project or a job.
7. How Do I Know if I Have a Good Heart?
First of all, if you do have a good heart, people will tell you this from time to time. They might even tell you upon first meeting. And, let’s be honest, if you do have a good heart, you will constantly worry whether you are being good-hearted or kind enough.
8. Non-Confrontational, Unless It Really Matters
You have a good heart if you prefer not to argue. You have a good heart if you favor talking about things instead of sulky silences. You have a good heart when you know when to keep your opinion to yourself.
Most good-hearted people will avoid confrontation. Until it really matters. And then, watch out, because these well-principled people will give an impassioned argument about exactly what has angered them. The good part is that because they forgive easily, the whole outburst is likely to be over within minutes, and they will have won you over to their way of thinking.
How to Have a Good Heart?
We learn as we progress in life. If you have a good heart, you get better at expressing it. If you could do with a little bit better in your heart, those with good hearts will surely help you to achieve that, in the kindest possible way.
For some people, all it takes is for them to find someone who like them to unlock all the goodness in their hearts that they have been saving for the special someone. That’s a compelling reason to start dating, don’t you think?