“What is your recipe for happiness? This is the very simple question that Sébastien St-Clair asks his passengers when they board his car for an Uber ride. On the armrest, next to him, rests a thick turquoise notebook, where they are invited to write their answer. This project is what he calls his “book of happiness”.
Met by The duty in a charming café in the city center, the 49-year-old driver radiates joie de vivre. With a smile on his lips and sparkling eyes, he gently leafs through his notebook, which is now almost full. More than a hundred small handwritten messages have accumulated there since the beginning of his initiative, last March.
“It started with a love story. I met a woman last year, she made me very happy, especially after a period of depression at the end of the pandemic, ”he says from the outset.
This encounter prompted him to do extensive research on happiness. Over the past year, he has immersed himself in many reads and podcasts to enrich his understanding of the science of happiness.
Then he discovered the work of Laurie Santos, a professor at Yale University. The psychology course she teaches is the most popular in the school’s 300-year history.
“His concept is simple: you don’t have to chase happiness, you can just create it. This is how the project was born. With the notebook, I can not only create happiness, but also engage passengers. They can, in turn, inspire others,” he explains between two sips of coffee.
But does the notebook actually succeed in making people happy? Anyone who has worked for Uber since last December is convinced of this. “I see it instantly. Often I drive people who are already in a good mood, and I feel their energy improves [après avoir pris connaissance du cahier]. And I am convinced of the butterfly effect that it can have long after in their evening, ”he confides.
I’ve learned more in the last four months than all the rest of my life
“I notice that many people are fascinated by the concept of happiness itself, even before opening the notebook. Often, we forget it in our daily life. We are so overwhelmed and always on the move, especially in a big city like Montreal, ”he adds.
continue the quest
Despite the enthusiasm of the passengers, Sébastien had to review the way he presented his project to the customers. “In the beginning, I asked people to write down their secret to finding happiness. But quickly, I saw that it encouraged reading rather than writing inside. Now using the term ‘recipes’ gets more shares,” he notes.
The “recipes” do not please everyone either: passengers “in difficult circumstances” have notably burst into tears while reviewing them. “Being aware of the small pleasures of others, it depresses them. It happened several times. Now I only ask passengers who are in a good mood,” he says.
A few “recipes for happiness” taken from the notebook…
And now that the notebook is almost full, Sébastien thinks about the rest of his project. In particular, the driver intends to start a second notebook, but also to publish the content of the first on social networks.
Her favorite message of all? A little message of encouragement inside a clumsily drawn heart: ” You Matter. So Much (You matter so much). “It’s only four words, but it means so much more than some posts that have taken up the space of two pages. »
Looking through the pages, it is obvious that Sébastien St-Clair is very proud of the result. Before joining Uber a few months ago, he crossed the United States as a truck driver. His project gave him a new perspective on life. “I’ve learned more in the last four months than all the rest of my life,” he says softly. It’s the first time that I’ve been in so much contact with the emotional and human side,” he confides.
As part of his commitment to spreading happiness on his journeys, Sébastien recently organized “Uber Puppy Days” — days when an SPCA puppy accompanied passengers in the back of his Polestar. A great success, he says, with a smile on his face.
It was natural to launch this initiative, pets being among the most frequently mentioned elements in the notebook of happiness, he explains.
“Surprisingly, people associate their animals a lot with their source of happiness, but no one has yet said that it’s their children who make them happy,” he laughs.