I learned about the Five Aggregates (Khandhas), which in Buddhist teaching are the components that give rise to the sense of a self or personal identity.

1. Form (Rūpa)
The physical body and material things—everything that can be touched or perceived as physical matter.

2. Feeling (Vedanā)
The sensations we experience: pleasure, pain, or neutral feelings.

3. Perception (Saññā)
The process of recognition and memory. It allows us to identify and label things, such as knowing whether something is good or bad, pleasant or unpleasant.

4. Mental Formations (Saṅkhāra)
Thoughts, intentions, and mental constructions. This includes all the mind's constant activity—daydreaming, planning, wanting things, worrying, judging, thinking good thoughts or bad thoughts, wishing for wealth, and endlessly creating stories.

5. Consciousness (Viññāṇa)
Awareness through the six senses:

• Sight through the eyes

• Sound through the ears

• Smell through the nose

• Taste through the tongue

• Touch through the body

• Thoughts through the mind

By observing these five aggregates, I began to understand that what I normally call "myself" is actually a collection of changing processes rather than a fixed, permanent self. The sense of "I" arises from these aggregates working together, even though each of them is constantly changing.