The art of journaling has been around for centuries, from the ‘Meditations’ of Marcus Aurelius to papyrus scrolls in Egypt and pillow books in imperial China and Japan. But this age-old practice has seen a recent resurgence thanks to the growing awareness of mental health, and the part that journalling can play in helping us with it. Writing down your thoughts and feelings in a journal can help with mindfulness, and also gives you the space to truly feel your emotions and reflect on major events.
If you’re struggling to structure your journal entries or find yourself running out of things to write, we suggest following the TXXXC structure. ‘TXXXC’ stands for ‘Topic’, ‘eXplain’, ‘eXample’, ‘eXpand’ and ‘Conclusion’. In this article, we’ll walk you through precisely how this structure can be applied to journalling and how you can practice it to refine your thoughts.
Start With A Primary Theme
The reason many people struggle to get into journaling is that they simply don’t know where to start. After all, there are countless directions you can take each journal entry. This is why we recommend following the TXXXC structure. If you haven’t written in this way before, you can print out a TXXXC paragraph structure example, approaching your entry with as much detail and scope as you might do for a business proposal. Keep this template next to you, whether you’re writing in a physical notebook or typing into a computer. This will be especially helpful if you’re trying to work through a tricky personal situation or a complicated set of feelings.
The main benefit of coming up with a theme or topic to cover in your entry is that it gives direction to every journalling session. While it’s completely valid to just freestyle it, this approach sometimes leaves you unsure of what to write about. By having an overarching topic to start with, it becomes much easier to think of specific experiences, feelings and recommendations for future action.
List Down Some Key Details
After you’ve settled on a primary topic to focus on, you can then start unpacking it. Do this by listing some key details or examples related to your theme. For instance, if you’ve chosen to write about gratitude, think of some things that you’re grateful for and go into depth on each one.
On the other hand, if you’re going through a rough patch in life, you can use the power of manifestation by listing some examples of things you want to happen. How you organise this section is up to you, whether it’s rough bullet points, separate detailed paragraphs or even Venn diagrams.
When you use the TXXXC structure, you can get over the hump of feeling like there’s nothing to write about, or knowing what you want to journal about – but not what to say. Coming up with subtopics allows you to focus your writing in the same way that coming up with a theme gives you a general direction for your journaling session.
If you’re thinking about a holiday, for example, you can use the TXXXC structure to go through each specific point, from budgeting to itinerary essentials, and jot down specific information or thoughts related to each factor.
Write About What You’ve Learned
A journal is more than simply a place to list down things that have happened to you. In order to reap the full benefits of journaling, you should meditate deeply and expand on recent events, or what you want to happen in the future. The ‘conclusion’ section of the TXXXC structure is the perfect place to do this.
After explaining the details of your chosen topic, start thinking about what you can learn from what you’ve written so far. Did you have a particularly difficult conversation with a family member? Write about how it made you feel and list some actions you plan to take as a result of the conversation. Did you recently experience a bout of anxiety? Reflect on potential triggers and some coping strategies you can use the next time this happens to protect your peace of mind.
Ultimately, the goal of keeping a journal is to help you grow. While understanding yourself and your feelings better are important steps, it’s also vital that your journaling sessions include some time to list down concrete actions you can take to improve yourself or your outlook on a past or potential situation. Before closing your journal for the day, make sure to conclude your entry with some reflections about what you’ve written, and some practical changes you can make as a result. Ultimately, joyful journalling is all about feeling lighter and brighter at the end of it!
Write Freely
The TXXXC structure is meant to help you organise your thoughts, but it should not eliminate spontaneity. When writing in your journal, you should always leave room to simply write whatever’s on your mind.
Rather than limiting your creativity, writing strategies like the TXXXC structure should enhance it. Using a pre-existing structure for your journal entries can save you the trouble of having to organise your tangled thoughts yourself.
Your journal is uniquely yours, so don’t put any limits on yourself in terms of what to write about. If you’re having trouble starting, simply reflect on notable things that have happened to you recently. For instance, if you’ve been travelling for your mental health, journal about the highlights of your trips and what you’ve learned about yourself along the way.
Experience all the Mindful Benefits of Journaling for yourself
Life can get overwhelming. So much of our time is taken up by studies, work, family, friends and countless other things, which leaves very little time to pause and reflect. Journalling is a fantastic way to meditate on how we feel. So, here’s a brief summary of what we’ve covered when you’re using the TXXXC structure to refine your thoughts whilst journalling:
- Choose a theme to focus your journaling on.
- Include examples and details you can delve into.
- Be honest whilst explaining and reflecting on recent experiences.
- Finish your session with a conclusion on what you plan to do or change.
- Use the template in tandem with free-flowing creativity.
In this guide, we’ve explained how you can use the TXXXC structure when writing your journal entries. Whether you’re new to journalling and don’t know where to start, or have been writing in your journal for a while but have hit a creative blank, make use of the TXXXC structure today to give yourself fresh inspiration.
