DukkhaLess is a project that is in the early development stages, and will be a cross-platform app (mac, linux, windows, browser, android, ios) for individuals to engage in mental health self-care activities. Particularly things that assist in the processing of emotion, to help live healthier more reflective lives.
This is going to be built in the form of various available tools, with the first two being a journal, and a customisable calendar.
The journal is just a journal, a place to write thoughts and reflect on events, and thus help re-process them.
The calendar is intended to able to support the recording of customised data points, such as eating habits, mood at different times, so on. The intention here is to help users discover trends in their lifestyle and how the events of their day to day can impact each other, and in general better equip them with the tools to make improvements where possible.
DukkhaLess will be usable in offline and online mode. In offline mode, user data is stored locally on the computer using it, in a fully encrupted format. Using the app each time will require the keys to be provided to "unlock" the data. In online mode, the data will be mirrored up to a remote service to allow a user to use the platform from any location.
The secondary component of the online mode is that it will permit sharing of items, such as calendar events, sections, or journal entries, to others.
All of this data will always be encrupted at the client side, so that the backend service that powers the "online mode" can never read anything more than the minimal metadata to provide the service effectively (timestamps, ownership, etc).
More on the data usage can be found here: https://github.com/DukkhaLess/Principles
And a more in-depth explanation of the approach to encryption and intent can be found in the somewhat out of date readme for the client application here: https://github.com/DukkhaLess/DukkhaLessClient/blob/master/README.md
Dukkha is a Pali word meaning approximately "Suffering", and as such the meaning off the name is "Suffer Less". The idea here being that the aim is to help individuals reduce their experience of suffering.
Suffering is an imperfect translation however, as the meaning can be more general when used in a context it can be found more naturally in. In this case, the author chose to draw on their own religion (Buddhism) for the meaning, and the concept of Dukkha has a complex meaning when used in that context.
The intended audience here is meant to be very general, but a bias is recognized in that many design plans do specifically target helping individuals with mood regulation, and problems that relate to it.
But more generally the hope is that it can be used constructively by anyone. We all struggle with emotion as part of the human condition, and taking time in our day to reflect on our own emotional lives is an immensely constructive and healthy behaviour.
One of the original motivators for this project is that the original author has in their personal life many friends and other close individuals who struggle precicely with mood disorders, and who have been looking for a journaling platform they trust. Many do not offer the sense of security and safety however that something encrupted this way does.
In cases where some form of encryption, usually local, is available, it is not really possible to share documents. As such this began as a project to create something specifically for some friends to use themselves, but the hope is to build it and build it well so that many more can benefit.