So last night, I decided to rewatch a film that is high up on my list of favorites, besides its harsh reviews by critics Hector and the Search for Happiness. I have watched this film several times, and enjoyed it each time... but last night for some reason a few things dawned on me about the real messages within this film and I felt inclined to write about them. Personally, I find this film presents some deeply profound points about the nature of happiness in our modern world. 

Hector, on his journey to learn more about happiness, is subjected to many situations which are beyond his control, which is very unlike the mundane life he is trying to get away from. I think this is actually the most important part of this movie. In many of the reviews I’ve read, it seems the writers did not delve into the real meaning if this at all, and only saw the journey as a linear story. Which is … in actuality the exact opposite point the film is trying to make.

Before tonight, I’d watched this movie a few times but for some reason half way through this time something hit me. Hectors life was by all means, successful. He had almost everything we would as a society consider, necessary to creating happiness in one’s life. A good job, a nice home, a stable relationship. A good income, good health… yet he is stifled. He is unhappy. His predictable, stable life is crushing his creativity, his inner child and of course, his happiness.

At the end of the film, he has returned to his life… almost exactly as it was before. He has the same job, the same partner, basically the same routine… but his perception of it is very different. We see him actively making an effort to create new experiences for himself and his partner. We see him fully embracing all the aspects of his routine, even the parts which before he had hated. Most importantly, we see the same negatively twisted sequences of thought that had once plagued his mind, turned around into real experiences that turned out more wonderfully than he could ever have imagined.
The realisation I had this evening was the fact that we are all striving for either ordinary, or extraordinary lives. We either want to be “just like those other people”, or “not like anyone else”. In both of these examples, we are setting ourselves up for failure and disappointment. 

Life, as we see in Hectors journey is not a straight line. He is hurt, disappointed and shamed during his travels. He is even kidnapped and close to death at one point… not what any of us would consider a good addition to any soul searching adventure. But, these experiences are intertwined with moments of pure joy, contentment, freedom, love… and happiness that when embraced for what they are, he truly appreciates.
Hectors visit to the Buddhist monks, and the older monks comments throughout the film pretty much sums it all up.

1. “Avoiding unhappiness is not the road to happiness” is pretty straight forward. The monk suggest that simply avoiding bad experiences won’t create happiness. Of course this is true. In fact we can do the opposite very often by trying so hard to control our lives, that we end up missing out on the moments of happiness. 

2. “It’s all of them” A comment he recalls during his brain scan when he is supposedly feeling sadness, fear, happiness and love all at once. This refers to all his feelings and experiences throughout his journey and his life. The monk is saying, that everything is part of happiness. The good and the bad both contribute to an ultimate peace and contentment in life. Accepting this means you stop avoiding the bad, embrace it and begin to find good in it instead. 

3. “We are all obligated to be happy” this is a powerful one. At first I wasn’t sure about this, because accepting sadness and negative emotions as mentioned is important… but then I realised the point behind it. Instead of reading this as “we all have to be happy” instead it means “it’s our job to be happy”. The word job/obligation is the important part. All that matters, is being happy.
Nothing else really means much… in fact everything we do can be in the pursuit of happiness… but if you we are always pursuing, then we are never being.

You wouldn’t study for 4 years, and get a degree to not pursue a career in your chosen field… but wait we all know someone who’s done exactly that. My point is, the journey is all that matters because the destination, the future is never certain. 

You might study for 4 years and once you finish, decide you don’t want to go into that field after all and feel a great amount of regret and frustration … because what you imagined has not come to pass.
Or, you might study for 4 years and enjoy your time, so the end outcome doesn’t really matter. Instead you think “well this wasn’t what I imagined but I enjoyed the ride anyway.” 

So, Hectors journey is not really a journey at all. In fact, it was more of a realisation that his life was only as mundane as he made it. He realised that when he embraced the “chaos” and unpredictability of the world around him, he grew. When he accepted his reality and stopped trying to make his clients, his girlfriend and everything in his life better… he naturally felt more alive. More fluid, and free.

His blossomed with the absence of control, expectation and regret. Letting go of the past, letting go of the future and simply being happy in the present.