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Last post Author Topic: IDEA: Mood diary/graph  (Read 31403 times)

Toptiger5

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IDEA: Mood diary/graph
« on: March 21, 2008, 10:17 AM »

I wish I had an app. I have seen apps like this but they are too expensive and I want freeware. Every day you were on the computer you would start the app and write your "daily entry". This would include:

Mood+describing text in different categories (work, self, family, friends, etc. Preferably customisable)
A few sentences (diary entry) to describe your day and what you did


When you have saved the entry, you come to a screen that looks something like the attached screenshot (but waaaay prettier than mine of course)

In the screenshot is my ideal window. It has a little calendar to show which days you have written diary entries and stuff. It also has a graph showing the "moods" over one week.

The black circles on the mood lines show the days you have written describing text for the moods. For the yellow "love line", there is a tooltip (appears on mouseover) showing what happened that day to make the love line go so low (the breakup).

The little calendar can be scrolled through to view last month, last year or whatever, so you can read the diary entries for that day.

Clicking on a day in the calendar or on the graph will enable you to read the diary entry for that day.

At the top of the screen you can click the buttons to view this week, month, year, whatever. Clicking on a date in the calendar will "move" the graph to show that week/month/etc. (so clicking on January 15th will show that week/month/year depending on what you have selected)

If this is too complicated to be a "coding snack" it doesn't matter if you move it to another forum, I just so want this app!

DonationCoder rules!

Toptiger5

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Re: IDEA: Mood diary/graph
« Reply #1 on: March 21, 2008, 10:19 AM »
Ooops, I posted this in the wrong forum. Can you move it to Post New Requests Here? Pleeeease?

mouser

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Re: IDEA: Mood diary/graph
« Reply #2 on: March 21, 2008, 10:20 AM »
I think there are a few programs (and websites) that do this and i look forward to seeing what DC people know about.
I have to confess i've thought quite a bit in the past about writing such a program.

Toptiger5

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Re: IDEA: Mood diary/graph
« Reply #3 on: March 21, 2008, 10:26 AM »
thanks :-)

Toptiger5

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Re: IDEA: Mood diary/graph
« Reply #4 on: March 21, 2008, 10:26 AM »
Ooops, I posted this in the wrong forum. Can you move it to Post New Requests Here? Pleeeease?
oops, i wrote the wrong thing on this one  ;D

mouser

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Re: IDEA: Mood diary/graph
« Reply #5 on: March 21, 2008, 10:27 AM »
By the way, my Point Motivator program is different, but captures some of the ideas:
https://www.donation...Motivator/index.html

Toptiger5

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Re: IDEA: Mood diary/graph
« Reply #6 on: March 21, 2008, 12:38 PM »
By the way, my Point Motivator program is different, but captures some of the ideas:
https://www.donation...Motivator/index.html
I know. I have tried it  :)



Toptiger5

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Re: IDEA: Mood diary/graph
« Reply #7 on: March 21, 2008, 12:39 PM »
I think there are a few programs (and websites) that do this and i look forward to seeing what DC people know about.
I have to confess i've thought quite a bit in the past about writing such a program.
a few programs and websites? Can you tell me about them? thnx

brotherS

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Re: IDEA: Mood diary/graph
« Reply #8 on: March 21, 2008, 02:15 PM »
The black circles on the mood lines show the days you have written describing text for the moods. For the yellow "love line", there is a tooltip (appears on mouseover) showing what happened that day to make the love line go so low (the breakup).
That's a great idea! ...if your goal is to stay as unhappy as you are. :huh:

You get what you focus on, so forget about the 'bad things' that 'happened' and write a daily list of 5 or more things you are grateful for. If you can't find big things ("*great* evening with some friends") start with something small ("breathing is painfree").

I'm not kidding.

Toptiger5

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Re: IDEA: Mood diary/graph
« Reply #9 on: March 22, 2008, 05:03 AM »
The black circles on the mood lines show the days you have written describing text for the moods. For the yellow "love line", there is a tooltip (appears on mouseover) showing what happened that day to make the love line go so low (the breakup).
That's a great idea! ...if your goal is to stay as unhappy as you are. :huh:

You get what you focus on, so forget about the 'bad things' that 'happened' and write a daily list of 5 or more things you are grateful for. If you can't find big things ("*great* evening with some friends") start with something small ("breathing is painfree").

I'm not kidding.

oki, ur right. This forum is starting to split into 2 apps, the mood diary and the gratefulness thingy. But they could be merged into one, I think.. or someone could make these 2 apps and you could use them side-by-side if you wanted to... I dunno..

brotherS

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Re: IDEA: Mood diary/graph
« Reply #10 on: March 22, 2008, 07:38 AM »
You still want to be unhappy, eh?  8)

The most simple solution would be to use a .txt file for the gratitude 'log' - then you could either open it manually or write a simple AHK script to open it daily to prevent you from forgetting about it.

CWuestefeld

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Re: IDEA: Mood diary/graph
« Reply #11 on: March 22, 2008, 08:30 AM »
I've considered using something like this off-and-on. I just did some scouting around. There's one that has a graph thingy like the OP mentioned: http://www.dirfile.com/smart_diary.htm. Their actual home page seems to be just a place holder, but their forum is requesting testers for an upcoming new version: http://forum.psunris...m/showthread.php?t=2

The biggest problem I see with starting a diary like this is that, by definition, it's an extremely long-term undertaking, likely to outlive any particular piece of software or even platform. So it's absolutely essential that the data be exportable so that when the next program or platform comes, the user can keep going. I have not seen any provision for this in any diary software out there.

Toptiger5

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Re: IDEA: Mood diary/graph
« Reply #12 on: March 22, 2008, 09:56 AM »
You still want to be unhappy, eh?  8)

The most simple solution would be to use a .txt file for the gratitude 'log' - then you could either open it manually or write a simple AHK script to open it daily to prevent you from forgetting about it.
yes, ur right. I'll try that, seems like a good idea  ;D :) ;)

Armando

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Re: IDEA: Mood diary/graph
« Reply #13 on: March 22, 2008, 03:49 PM »
IMO, a database software with graphs and table capabilities would be enough for that endeavor.  ;)

SirSmiley

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Re: IDEA: Mood diary/graph
« Reply #14 on: March 22, 2008, 06:56 PM »
A grateful journal and a mood diary serve two different purposes.

Charting your moods allows you to understand yourself better and make changes in yourself, situation and surroundings. After all applying a band-aid won't heal a sore if you keep pulling it back and picking at it.

Actually I did a simple mood chart in Access years ago when they thought I might be bi-polar. Instead I'm my own special type of crazy.  ;)

Have to agree with CWuestefeld. Probably best suited as Web App and using flash for the graphing IMO.

Armando

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Re: IDEA: Mood diary/graph
« Reply #15 on: March 22, 2008, 08:45 PM »
This is what I did in 10 min. with SQLNotes. The basics are there :
- Day to day diary (named by dates)
- Moods with a corresponding number (I've chosen an 1-10 scale)
- When some explanations are written, the "itemHasHTML" column is ticked
- A nice graph showing the mood variations. and if you hover your mouse on the lines, you get a nice tooltip...
- etc. : possibilities are endless. Columns can be added, totals, whatever you want.

 :)

EDIT : and btw, a calendar is coming soon...
Edit 2 : corrected my grrrreaaat English (personnal --> personal, familly --> family, etc.  :D).

Screenshot - 2008-03-22 , 22_15_22.jpg
« Last Edit: March 22, 2008, 09:21 PM by Armando »

brotherS

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Re: IDEA: Mood diary/graph
« Reply #16 on: March 23, 2008, 06:46 AM »
A grateful journal and a mood diary serve two different purposes.

Charting your moods allows you to understand yourself better and make changes in yourself, situation and surroundings.
I think most people who have problems know pretty well that they have them and to which extend they do.

Just charting them probably helps to improve their situation as much as watching TV and writing down which episodes you watched improves your life.

Armando

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Re: IDEA: Mood diary/graph
« Reply #17 on: March 23, 2008, 09:25 AM »
[off-topic]
I think most people who have problems know pretty well that they have them and to which extend they do.

Most? Maybe. And many people don't, and don't know how to get better.

Just charting them probably helps to improve their situation as much as watching TV and writing down which episodes you watched improves your life.

And focusing on the good things, as you suggested, is not bad per se, but probably not better than a chart or mood journal.... Where's the medical evidence showing that it works that well, and for which pathology? And for how long? etc.

Charting will not completely pull you out of your pathological states and habits, but, as SirSmiley cleverly said, it's certainly a first positive step in wanting (and being able) to understand better who you are, your patterns, get out of stagnating emotional fusion or alienating dissociation and start to differentiate feelings from needs and events, events from yourself, yourself from others, etc. Then, if necessary, you can start to devise better strategies, with the help of somebody else or alone, etc. Personal journal, charts or whatever means, always have been great tools, albeit incomplete -- you're right in that --, but important and useful tools nevertheless.[/off-topic]

brotherS

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Re: IDEA: Mood diary/graph
« Reply #18 on: March 23, 2008, 10:39 AM »
[off-topic]
I think most people who have problems know pretty well that they have them and to which extend they do.

Most? Maybe. And many people don't, and don't know how to get better.

Over the years I spoke with several people (online and offline) who openly admitted that they then did have problems. The awareness was there, but most weren't actively searching for 'a way out'. They just accepted their misery for the time being.

Just charting them probably helps to improve their situation as much as watching TV and writing down which episodes you watched improves your life.

And focusing on the good things, as you suggested, is not bad per se, but probably not better than a chart or mood journal.... Where's the medical evidence showing that it works that well, and for which pathology? And for how long? etc.

I read twice about research that writing down 'the good stuff' does help. maybe just because it shifts your focus. I'm reading a lot so I don't remember where exactly I read it.

You seem to agree that the main problem is the knowing/doing gap: knowing about a problem is miles away from doing something about it (which is often easier than assumed).

Private messages welcome, it really gets a bit off-topic. ;)

SirSmiley

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Re: IDEA: Mood diary/graph
« Reply #19 on: March 23, 2008, 12:46 PM »
[Still off topic]
Yeah, the information is only as good as what a person does or doesn't do with it. Unfortunately most people fear change.

Charting your moods is about covering both ups, downs and just normal days. A grateful journal is great if used pro-actively. Simply saying your grateful for something but, not knowing why can be ineffective.

Personally, when I charted I found it to lead me in a more positive direction. Additionally, I used a Thought Record to help with changes. Now years later the Thought Record process is actually pretty well standard in my normal daily outlook.

[back on topic]
These tools would actually make a great WebApp and looking at how big the self-Improvement market is potentially fairly lucrative.

Off to hatch my evil world domination plan.  :D

Armando

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Re: IDEA: Mood diary/graph
« Reply #20 on: March 23, 2008, 10:45 PM »
interesting

These tools would actually make a great WebApp and looking at how big the self-Improvement market is potentially fairly lucrative.

Off to hatch my evil world domination plan.  :D

There are not too many of these right now... So go ahead! ;)

I like what I was able to achieve with SQLNotes in very little time -- ahem : nobody commented (?). Lots of other stuff could be included -- like alarms, color coding for different values, averages, year views, other information fields, etc. to obtain a very complete mood-journal database.  I'll actually start to integrate some of this with a system devised by Ira Progoff (At a Journal Workshop -- pretty interesting book, even if a bit old fashioned) into my own personal journal system.

SirSmiley

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Re: IDEA: Mood diary/graph
« Reply #21 on: March 24, 2008, 02:21 PM »
Actually, I saw your screen after posting was just too lazy to edit my post. ;)

Then I went off to find SQLNotes (still having trouble downloading).

Your screen shot looks impressive and I like the graphing capabilities. Other ideas could include strategies for coping or avoiding similar situations. Very good ideas.

Adam Pash over at Lifehacker posted a link to a more specific medical type webapp/community.
http://lifehacker.co...e-crowd-for-patients

The webapp idea is good but, my issues always come back to protecting people's privacy.

Armando

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Re: IDEA: Mood diary/graph
« Reply #22 on: March 24, 2008, 03:06 PM »
Actually, I saw your screen after posting was just too lazy to edit my post. ;)

Then I went off to find SQLNotes (still having trouble downloading).

Your screen shot looks impressive and I like the graphing capabilities. Other ideas could include strategies for coping or avoiding similar situations. Very good ideas.

Adam Pash over at Lifehacker posted a link to a more specific medical type webapp/community.
http://lifehacker.co...e-crowd-for-patients

The webapp idea is good but, my issues always come back to protecting people's privacy.


Cool. I think the SQLNotes web site sercer is having some issues this weekend... Not sure why...
Thanks for the Lifehacker link.  :)

CWuestefeld

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Re: IDEA: Mood diary/graph
« Reply #23 on: March 24, 2008, 03:08 PM »
How is it that SQLNotes manages to hijack every freakin' thread lately?

Armando

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Re: IDEA: Mood diary/graph
« Reply #24 on: March 24, 2008, 03:27 PM »
Everyone? No...And where's the hijacking here CWuestefeld? Just offered a solution with a software that's capable of doing it.