When you pursue your purpose with your heart you unlock the secret to a happy life.

There is a wonderful new movie that illustrates this point through the story of a remarkable young boy who lives in the walls of a Paris train station in the early 20th century after WWI. Hugo, by director Martin Scorsese is based on the Caldecott Award winning novel, The Invention of Hugo Cabaret by Brian Selznick. The story is a wonderful illustration of the actions we can take to bring us a happy life.

Hugo comes from a family of clock makers. Hugo has both a talent for and a love of fixing things. He and his father were working on restoring an automaton, (a mechanical man) his father found at a museum. It was their special project, full of mysteries and puzzles to solve. All they were missing was a heart shaped key to make the mechanism work. The project helped them with the grief of losing Hugo’s mother.

When Hugo’s father is killed in an accident, Hugo’s drunken uncle takes him to the Paris train station where he works and teaches Hugo to do his job of maintaining the station clocks. When the uncle disappears, Hugo survives by maintaining the clocks in the station and soothes his grief by working on the automaton he brought from his father’s workshop. Hugo’s world takes a turn for the worse when a toy maker in the train station takes the notebook Hugo and his father made while working on the automaton. To get it back, Hugo must learn to fix people as well as things.

First, Hugo must reach out to strangers for help, including the toy maker’s daughter. Hungry for adventure, she is happy to help the mysterious boy. He returns her favors with an adventure to the movies, where they see some of the early silent films. Their lives become further entwined when Hugo discovers that she wears the heart shaped key around her neck.

The movie is filled with several other characters who are struggling to heal old wounds and losses from the war. For example, there is the station inspector who must learn to smile to get the attention of the flower sales girl. He is hampered by a mechanical leg from war wounds that cannot be healed. She lost a brother in the war, so is willing to look past his leg injury, but is taken aback by his internal wounds in the form of his passion to send all orphans to the orphanage to learn to live without people, as he did.

Hugo’s driving passion to not only fix the mechanical man, but find its purpose, touches their lives profoundly too. In a world of mystery and dreams, fancy and illusion, Hugo shows that we are all happiest when we know and follow our purpose with compassion and love. When we follow our purpose and passion with heart, we can do fantastic things.

This movie is beautifully acted and photographed. The characters are engaging and the plot is full of mysteries and twists. Yet, the most memorable part of the film is the sense of fancy and dreams. You will enjoy Hugo as a well told story and as a great example of the power of purpose, passion, compassion and connection to build a happy life.

You too can rise above the challenges and fears in your life by focusing on the things you love to do and do well- your purpose and your signature strengths.

When you pursue your purpose with your heart you unlock the secret to a happy life.

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