Happiness Library: What Makes People Happy?
Review of François Lelord's novel, "Hector and the Search for Happiness", written in French in 2002 and published in English in 2010. This is the first novel in a series of adventures featuring Hector, the psychiatrist. The novel was also adapted into a film, directed by Peter Chelsom and starring Simon Pegg and Rosamund Pike, which was released in cinemas in 2014.
Hector, a young and successful psychiatrist, doesn't feel satisfied with himself or fulfilled in his life. He decides to take a sabbatical to go on a study journey around the world and find out what makes people happy or unhappy in different parts of the world. He visits several faraway countries where some of his friends live.
This is not a literary masterpiece or a page-turning, exciting novel. It is written in an easy-to-understand language, with simple sentences which sometimes sound childish. But the topics discussed are serious topics that play an important role in our lives and happiness. The plot of the novel serves to teach lessons that can help you live a more joyful and fulfilled life. Between the lessons on happiness, there is also space for some excitement, adventure and humour.
This is more of a personal development novel that helps you learn about happiness and gives you tips you can apply in your life to be happier, so read the book with the following questions in mind:
- How is this aspect present in my life?
- Does it further my happiness?
- How can I implement the findings in my own life to be happier and more fulfilled?
Hector would happily travel with his girlfriend, Clara, but she is very busy with her work. She usually takes work home, even on the weekends spent with Hector, and she doesn't have time to take a holiday and travel with Hector. As a result, Hector feels a bit hurt.
Questions to reflect on:
- Are you too busy to spend time with your loved ones?
- If yes, what can you do to spend more quality time with those you love?
Hector learns his first lesson in happiness when he asks his girlfriend if she is happy. On hearing the question, she adopts a defensive position because she believes Hector wants to leave her. The lesson Hector learns is that people feel uncomfortable, or even attacked, when someone asks them if they are happy.
Questions to reflect on:
- How do you react when someone asks you whether you are happy?
- If you start defending yourself, maybe it is time to check on your true level of happiness.
The first stop in Hector's journey is China. While flying to China, he learns another lesson regarding the relationship between happiness and comparison. Hector is upgraded to business class and feels very happy and satisfied because of a more comfortable seat, the champagne served, and the pleasant surprise. He also realises that happiness can arrive as a result of something unexpected. His neighbour complains that his seat is less comfortable than in first class.
Questions to reflect on:
- Can you enjoy something and find pleasure and satisfaction in it?
- Do you tend to spoil a joyful moment by comparing it to the past, possible future situations, other places, or situations experienced by another person?
Talking to his friend living in China, Hector explores the topics of happiness and money, and the belief held by many people that they can only be happy in the future when their wishes become a reality. A talk to a monk while visiting a Buddhist monastery gives him new insights into what real happiness is. He also observes well-dressed people leaving their offices who don't look happy and seem worried. He concludes that money and power don't necessarily make people happy.
Questions to reflect on:
- What do you believe about the relationship between money and happiness?
- How does it influence your happiness?
His next stop is a relatively poor African country, where he meets many people who say they are happy because they have a family and food to eat, and they feel secure. Here, he also has an adventure that makes him think about death. But everything ends well, and he can rejoin his friends. This experience helps him add new elements to his list of happiness factors, such as feeling useful and being loved for yourself, for who you are.
Questions to reflect on:
- How do you feel about the small things in your everyday life, such as people you love, a place to live, food to eat, heating, electricity, running water, internet and other comforts of modern life?
- Are you grateful for them, or do you take them for granted?
- What can you be grateful for in your life now?
His last stop on the journey is a big country with many psychiatrists, where he meets friends and questions them about happiness. He also meets a professor who researches happiness. They talk about what happiness means and how it can be measured. He also gets a glimpse into brain studies and learns which brain parts become active when a person is happy. He is surprised to find out that happiness specialists don't fully agree on the factors that make people happy. Some say people are happy because they have mostly pleasant events and experiences in their lives, while others say that happiness is a result of attitude, mindset and point of view.
Questions to reflect on:
- How happy do you consider yourself on a scale from 1 to 10, where 1 is totally unhappy and 10 is completely happy?
- Why have you given that particular score?
Based on his experience, Hector creates three categories of happiness, of which two are further divided into two subcategories. The result is 5 happiness "families" that summarise the categories of factors making people happy. For example, one of the "exciting happiness families" contains enjoying what you do and working towards some important goals. "What you do" could refer to your work or to something you do outside work, for example, a hobby.
Questions to reflect on:
- What makes you happy?
- When do you feel happy?
- How can you do more of what makes you happy?
When Hector arrives home from his journey, he has compiled a list of 22 factors that make people happy or unhappy, illustrated with examples he collected around the world. As a result, he realises he likes his work more and loves Clara more than at the beginning of his journey.
How can you make the most of this book?
- After reading the novel, go back and read it chapter by chapter.
- Stop at each happiness factor.
- Look at how that factor appears in your life and how it influences your happiness.
- What can you do to eliminate or reduce a negative factor that creates unhappiness?
- What can you do to implement or enhance a positive factor to increase your happiness?
If you would like more tips and techniques to increase your happiness at work, download the
"How to Become Happier at Work? - 7+1 Tools to Increase Your Happiness at Work" Workbook.