where creative imagination meets creative realization
The word roya in Farsi means “fantasy,” “dream,” and “vision.” Every creative inkling begins with a roya in the realm of imagination. A seedling of an idea takes root, the beginning of a creative pursuit.
The Sufis believe that imagination is a powerful faculty of the soul, a bridge between the spiritual and physical realms. In archetypal psychology, imagery and symbolism are a bridge between the unconscious and conscious mind.
Imagination is an important and necessary part of the creative process, but alone is not enough. If creative imagination is the private, internal process of dreaming, fantasizing, and envisioning possibilities, then creative realization is the covert, outer process of organizing our ideas, our royas, and bringing them to life in the form of something tangible.
Our royas must rise from the uncharted realms of our inner world into the equally wild territories of our outer world, if we truly wish to transform and alchemize them into our lived reality.
Not surprisingly, it is at this stage of creative realization that most of us are blocked.
For a long time, this is where I was blocked as well. All I’ve ever wanted to do is write. As far back as my days adrift in the womb, I’ve had endless fantasy worlds and stories taking up 90% of the space in my head.
With the demands of school and work (not to mention the usual interlopers of imposter syndrome, comparisons, and perfectionism that frequented my guest house) years went by where I struggled to maintain a consistent, committed relationship to my writing, to the creative realization part of the process.
And yet, despite the blocks and time constraints, I found myself drawn to writing whenever I had free time. It was in these moments that I realized how creatively starved I was.
There came a time when I nearly abandoned my writing altogether. Sadly, many creators reach this point of wanting to abandon the ship of their creative pursuits. Some even do. That’s when I sank into a deep depression. I felt purposeless, aimless, and lost. This vulnerability forced me to dive inward and confront these parts of myself that were calling out to me.
My wonderful coach Serva said to me then, “Nava, you’ve done everything that was expected of you. Now it’s time to figure out why you’re really here.”
I instantly knew that writing was one of my whys. From that moment onward, I decided to fully commit to my writing. This commitment changed my life. It has led me to feel more confident, authentic, intuitive, content, purposeful, and connected to myself, the world around me, and most importantly, my Creator. This commitment made me realize that consistent creative expression is a fundamental need for myself and many others, a need we can no longer ignore.
This commitment also requires inner work, or soul work, as I like to call it. If you’re creatively blocked, then soul work is required of you as well. My mission is to help you nurture, cultivate, and honor your creative nature by guiding you through the evolution that is Roya Rising, where your fantasies, dreams, and visions will emerge from the rich terrain of your imagination into a lush, lived reality.
