Great post. I remember being very struck by the idea of the rider and the elephant when I read Jonathan Haidt's Happiness Hypothesis.

I think its a useful framework to think about procrastination and akrasia as well, something that you've written about in the past. I often think about my fears and desires as a disobedient elephant than I have to constantly look after.

I'd agree with this. I've been doing it for over a year now and have a whole notebook full of gushy, sentimental writing about my friends, family, nature, art etc. that I would never in a million years let anyone else see.

One thing I would add - Writing a gratitude journal once a week has been shown to be more effective than doing it daily (Sonja Lyubomirsky 2007)

I guess if you do it every day it becomes a chore and you don't do it with any real emotional investment so it becomes less effective.

Great article, thanks Luke