An old Buddhist text, the Upajjhatthana Sutta, lists five facts worth reflecting on often: I am subject to aging, subject to illness, subject to death, I will grow separate from everyone and everything dear to me, and I am the owner of my own actions, inheriting their results. Thich Nhat Hanh (say "tik naht hahn") later popularized a chanted version of these at Plum Village, which is a paraphrase of this much older canonical list, not its origin. The sutta explains its own purpose plainly: reflecting on aging, illness, and death loosens the false confidence, the intoxication, that comes from feeling young, healthy, and permanent, an intoxication the text says leads people to act carelessly. This isn't meant as gloom. It's meant to recalibrate what actually matters before the day's smaller urgencies take over. Pick one of the five for your commute this morning, and let it quietly resize whatever felt urgent five minutes ago.