Hector and the Search for #Happiness

“Hector and the Search for Happiness” is a novel written by Francois Lelord which was converted into a movie by the same name in 2014. I have not read the book but I am fortunate to have seen the movie last week while I was on the flight back home from Finland.

Hector is a psychiatrist who loves helping people but is not happy with his own mundane life. While meeting with his patients, he realizes that most of his patients are not really ill but just unhappy. Hector, unable to help his patients because of his own discontentment, decides to take a break and travel the world to do some research on what makes people truly happy. He goes on a solo trip since his fiancée has to stay at home and focus on work. What follows is a series of experiences that shapes Hector’s thinking about happiness while he experiences life and relationships more deeply and profoundly. He jots these lessons down in a notebook gifted to him by his fiancée. 

Here is what he writes in his notebook. (Emphasis added to the lessons that really struck me hard).

• Making comparisons can spoil your happiness.
• Happiness often comes when least expected.
• Many people only see happiness in their future.
• Many people think that happiness comes from having more power or more money.
• Sometimes happiness is not knowing the whole story.
• Happiness is a long walk in beautiful, unfamiliar mountains.
• It’s a mistake to think that happiness is the goal.
• Happiness is being with the people that you love. Unhappiness is being separated from the people that you love.
• Happiness is knowing that your family lacks for nothing.
• Happiness is answering your calling.
• Happiness is having a home and a garden of your own.
• It’s harder to be happy in a country run by bad people.
• Happiness is feeling useful to others.
• Happiness is to be loved for exactly who you are.
• Happiness comes when you feel truly alive.
• Happiness is knowing how to celebrate.
• Avoiding unhappiness is not the road to happiness.
• Happiness is caring about the happiness of those you love.
• Listening is Loving. 
• The Sun and the Sea make everybody happy.
• Happiness is not attaching too much importance to what other people think.
• Happiness is a certain way of seeing things.
• Rivalry ruins happiness.
• Happiness is not a destination. It’s a state of being.
• Fear is an impediment to happiness.
• Happiness means making sure that those around you are happy

In the movie, Hector meets Prof. Coreman who had written a book on happiness after studying the effects of happiness on brain. In one of the lectures, Prof. Coreman says something very important.

“People shouldn’t be concerned about pursuit of happiness, but with the happiness of pursuit.” 

Each lesson may look discrete at first but when woven into our experiences and situations, these lessons are profound enough. And for that, you must either read the book or watch the movie!

Related Posts at QAspire:

• In 100 Words: The Pursuit of Happiness
• In 100 Words: On Success, Happiness and Frugality
• 8 Life Lessons From Yoga Workshop