It might be on your bookshelf, in a junk drawer or collecting dust under a pile of papers you flung onto your desk, but there’s a good chance you have a journal. A collection of untouched blank pages you once imagined filling with the many contents of your mind until life got in the way. You bought it then forgot about it, relegating it to the assortment of things you’ve been meaning to do.

The next time you come across it while you’re cleaning or searching for something else, consider taking a few minutes to write something down. The act is more beneficial than you might realize.

“I have recommended journaling to my clients, especially the anxious ones for decades,” says Niro Feliciano , licensed clinical social worker, psychotherapist and TODAY.com columnist.

Since we can’t write as

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