For Mary Jane lovers who like to wax poetic about the brighter side of life and how to access it, these films and documentaries may add to your understanding of what it means to truly be happy. If you’re not a natural optimist, these flicks may persuade you that there may be something to smile about after all.

Hector and the Search for Happiness (2014)

An uninspired therapist takes himself on the journey of a lifetime, when he decides to ditch the unfulfilling sterility of working in an office and stop absorbing the volatile emotions of his patients. He takes matters into his own hands, travels around the globe on a hunt for true happiness and finds himself on a series of adventures that he could have never imagined in his wildest dreams.

Happy (2011)

Delve into the seemingly complicated mechanics of what it takes to feel good, with a socio-cultural look into the science behind what creates happiness in people’s lives from various walks of life. This documentary includes a number of locales and regions from around the world from a swamp in Louisiana to the slums of Kolkata and beyond to find out if happiness is something you can find or something you carry inside you no matter where you go.

Happy People: A Year In the Traiga (2010)

Although some people only imagine going off into the wild and truly living off-the-grid, it’s a reality for a group of residents along the River Yenisei in arctic Russia who have found a way to not only survive but thrive in their environment. Despite unforgivingly harsh weather conditions and extremely simple living in their rural village, these people still experience a type of happiness that others might find impossible to maintain.

Not Another Happy Ending (2013)

Here’s an unexpected plot twist: most times being happy is a good thing, but sometimes being too happy can actually be a bad thing for you. In this film, a publisher encounters an interesting problem when a writer for his company finds it almost impossible to write her novel after realizing that her happiness actually impedes her creative process. Together, they find out if being happy is really all it’s cracked up to be.

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977)

This classic film is all about the search for happiness as Christopher Robin, Pooh, Piglet, Tigger and the rest of the crew get themselves into all kinds of light-hearted trouble.If you think Winnie the Pooh is just for kids, you’ve missed the opportunity to philosophize about the honey-loving bear and his lovable friends’ adventures as they follow their heart and imagination wherever it may lead.