Dr. Laura Gabayan’s new book is titled Common Wisdom: 8 Scientific Elements of a Meaningful Life. It’s a compelling idea from the start, essentially a left-brain way of looking at altruism, and semi-spiritualistic concepts. Common wisdom in some ways should obviously have left-brain appeal, after all it wouldn’t be in literality ‘common’ if that weren’t the case.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: https://lauragabayan.com/
But as Dr. Gabayan brilliantly demonstrates, where things can leave decidedly unsentimental folk cold, disappearing into a sanguine imaginativeness, wisdom retains a practical crux anyone can access. After all, again, it’s a universal set of traits that make up a wise mindset, an understanding and expertise in one’s environment. “It has forever been part of my culture, as a Persian Kurd, to believe that hard work and persistence lead to success. Included in that was the assumption that I have complete control of all aspects of my life.
I became a physician because I liked the academic challenge and have always had a desire to help people,” writes Dr. Gabayan, at the beginning of the read. “I specifically pursued emergency medicine (EM) for two reasons: I felt like EM was pure medicine that treated people based on immediate need, and it also taught me how to manage every situation life would throw my way—from life or death to the mundane. I then pursued scientific research because I enjoyed the challenge of discovery and inquiry and believed I could contribute more to medicine in this way and have a greater impact on the world.”
Dr. Gabayan’s background as a clinician automatically makes what could come across as overt spiritualism something reasoned, complex, and fully understandable. As far as she is concerned, the left and right brain aspects of a wisdom mindset are compatible. It’s essential not to make one or the other exclusive, as that can rob the individual of their ability to be fully present, fully engaged to the immediacies of their environment. “I realized that while traditional Western medicine had some answers, they were not enough,” Dr. Gabayan writes, “I pursued other styles of healing and learned to think unconventionally. I slowly realized that this devastating condition was a gift that helped me question the meaning of my own life. This is also when I started paying attention to those who have more depth in their approach to life and those who see life with more meaning: the wise.”
AMAZON: https://www.amazon.com/Common-Wisdom-Scientific-Elements-Meaningful/dp/1956470913
The wise is something anyone can be, courtesy of that mass utilization. The wise is simply knowing when to look, when to listen, when to really understand. It’s really just slowing down, and being able to fully attune one’s self to what’s around them. Dr. Gabayan’s breaking down of each of the chapters into altruistic-sounding tenets is smart. She’s able to show any skeptical readers that these terms don’t have to conjure overtly spiritual practices. They’re simply core ingredients to a mindset reflective of what is advocated for in the text. It left a singular impression on me, to be honest. It’s not often someone can articulate concepts of this nature in such bell-clear, thoughtful, and rational prose.
Garth Thomas