At age 70, Dr. Sarath Jayawardana has lived several lifetimes in one.
Across medicine, migration, business and law, he has repeatedly rebuilt and reinvented his life, often through extraordinary adversity.
Growing up in rural Sri Lanka, Jayawardana worked hard to fulfill his dream of becoming a doctor, only to find himself practicing medicine as civil war erupted around him.
Then one act placed Jayawardana and his family in grave danger.
As a young doctor, he was forced at gunpoint to treat a wounded militant, leaving him caught between both sides of the conflict and facing serious consequences simply for doing what his duty as a doctor compelled him to do.
“Even with the safer location, peace eluded me,” according to Jayawardana. “Sleepless nights became the norm, plagued by nightmares and the crushing realization that I was now a target, not just for the JVP but for the government forces as well.”
Australia eventually became his way out.
MIGRATING TO AUSTRALIA
When Jayawardana arrived in Australia in 1990, he travelled ahead of his wife and two young children to establish a new life for the family, with them joining him in 1991.
“The emotions were mixed,” he says. “Anticipation for the opportunities ahead and an ache for the family I was temporarily leaving behind.”
ACUPUNCTURE AND COMPLEMENTARY MEDICINE
With his family reunited, Jayawardana started building his professional life in Australia.
Then his career took a new direction into acupuncture and complementary medicine. In 1991, he co-founded the Australian Institute of Holistic Medicine with Dr. Andrew Ong, helping develop its curriculum before later becoming CEO.
A year later, he wound up in court when the Medical Board of Western Australia challenged his practice of acupuncture. Jayawardana fought the case, with the magistrate dismissing the charge that the acupuncture treatment he provided constituted a medical service under Western Australian law.
In 1998, Jayawardana was admitted to the Sovereign Military Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, Knights of Malta, with the rank of Knight of Merit for his contribution to health and education, particularly his pioneering work in complementary medicine education in Australia.
“As I knelt before the ceremonial gathering and received my knighthood, I felt an overwhelming sense of pride and gratitude,” he says.
But Jayawardana never stopped looking for the next challenge.
The emotions were mixed: anticipation for the opportunities ahead and an ache for the family I was temporarily leaving behind.
BECOMING A LAWYER
In his early 50s, when many people might have been thinking about slowing down, Jayawardana became a student again, eventually graduating with a law degree.
In 2018, he was admitted to the Supreme Court of Western Australia as a lawyer.
“Lifelong learning is not just about acquiring knowledge,” he says, “it is about staying curious, open, and humble.”
Jayawardana told the story of those experiences in his first book, “Uncharted Horizons: A Journey of Resilience.”
‘PRECIOUS GEMS’
If “Uncharted Horizons” tells the story of what Jayawardana endured and what shaped him, his second book, “Precious Gems Collected over 70 years: Life Lessons, Reflections, and Timeless Wisdom for Meaningful Living,” asks a different question: What did seven decades of living through adversity, opportunity, failure, success, love, loss and reinvention actually teach him?
Sarath describes those lessons as his “precious gems.”
Not rules for living. Not instructions for achieving success.
Truths gathered through experience and, like gemstones themselves, often formed under pressure.
Across “Precious Gems,” Jayawardana explores some of the questions that become increasingly important as we move through life:
- What does success really mean?
- Why do some people emerge from adversity stronger while others remain trapped by it?
- When is holding on hurting us more than letting go?
- Can we influence how well we age?
- Why do we spend so much time chasing money while squandering something far more valuable: time?
For Jayawardana, one of life’s greatest lessons has been understanding the difference between what happens to us and what we choose to do with it.
He believes adversity can become a teacher if we are willing to look for the lesson within it.
“Letting go is not a weakness, it is wisdom,” he says.
HEALTHY AGING
He also challenges the way we think about aging.
While chronological age cannot be changed, Jayawardana argues the way we live can profoundly influence how we experience the years ahead.
Jayawardana believes that healthy ageing is about far more than biological age: He encourages people to remain curious, physically active and socially connected, continue learning, find purpose and keep challenging themselves throughout life.
For Jayawardana, aging well is ultimately about how we choose to approach life, continuing to grow, adapt and engage with the world at every stage.
Every challenge carries a seed of opportunity. Every setback carries a lesson. Every failure carries wisdom.
Jayawardana also believes many of us misunderstand abundance.
A meaningful life, he argues, isn’t necessarily created by accumulating more money, possessions or status, but by understanding what is already valuable: our relationships, our health, our ability to contribute and, perhaps most importantly, our time.
“Time is one of the most precious resources we have,” he says, “it cannot be saved, stored, or recovered once it is gone.”
RELATIONSHIPS
Relationships form another of Jayawardana’s “precious gems.”
Looking back over his life, he credits his wife as the quiet supporter who has helped him to achieve so much.
Your chronological age is fixed, you cannot change it. But your biological age is flexible, dynamic, and deeply influenced by your lifestyle, habits, mindset, and daily choices.
Jayawardana believes that gratitude, generosity, integrity, patience and the willingness to help others ultimately matter more than many of the conventional measures of success.
“When you help someone sincerely, without expecting anything in return, life finds a way to help you when you need it most,” he says..
And after a life characterized by striving, learning and building, Jayawardana has also come to appreciate something much quieter: stillness.
“Stillness does not require a temple, a mountain, or perfect conditions,” he says. “It begins with a single breath.”
From a rural Sri Lankan village to Australia, from medicine to law, and through political violence, migration, professional battles and repeated reinvention, Jayawardana’s own life has tested many of the ideas he now shares.
At 70, he doesn’t claim to have discovered a formula for a perfect life.
Stillness does not require a temple, a mountain, or perfect conditions. It begins with a single breath.
Instead, “Precious Gems” is an invitation to consider what our own experiences are teaching us and whether we are paying attention.
Because if seven decades have taught Jayawardana anything, it is that we cannot control everything that happens to us.
But we can choose what we learn from it, what we carry forward and what we finally decide to let go.
“Precious Gems” is available wherever books are sold, including Barnes & Noble, Amazon (e-book) and Booktopia.
