Meet Priya Rama

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Priya Rama a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Priya, we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?
I am answering this as a poem, something that I have been exploring lately…

RESILIENCE
How do I find hope in the throes of pain
How do I find hope amid uncertainty
How do I rise when I’ve fallen so deep?
When all I am is a shadow
When all I am is alone.

Yet I seek the open road
Long for turns not yet taken
There is no known without the unknown
No beauty without the pain
For height is reached from the shallows.

Hope is deeper than optimism
Delicate and elusive
When all feels pointless
Hope is a state of grace
To fall into again and again.

How do I find the hope to carry on?
It is through resilience
Imbibed and nurtured
I will flow into what I can control
Know it is the light that also throws the shadow.

I will not be felled
No, not without a fight
Little by little and day by day
I fall but rise again
I stumble but take the next step
Resilience has brought me this far
And resilience will take me to the end.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I paint what I ‘see’ during my migraines. As a chronic migraine sufferer, with 2-3 migraines a week, I deal with tremendous pain and a host of other body/mind-slaying symptoms. What I also have been blessed with, along with the pain, is the experience of an explosion of colors inside my head. This presents as a slow-motion movie, with flowing colors, dynamic movement, and many textural elements, including circles and bubbles. This is what I paint.

It has now become my life’s purpose, to share this gift with the world, and to contribute towards a better understanding of the phenomenon called migraines–it doesn’t just affect the head, but the whole body!

I am also deeply driven to talk about the power of creativity when dealing with pain, stress or loss. After all, I have much experience in this regard. While painting hasn’t ‘cured’ my migraines, it has allowed me to let go of all the anger and frustration that had built up over the years. Painting my migrainal images has let me accept this chronic illness. Doing so has made a world of difference to how i deal with it. I am at peace now.

I participate in many juried art fairs and shows so that I can share my paintings as well as my experience with a wider audience. I have been interviewed by several national news/public interest programs. You can learn more about me on my website www.priyarama.com

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
I am blessed to have either been born with these qualities or have carefully nurtured them over the years

Curiosity, with a hunger to learn
Optimism (glass half-full)–there is so much beauty amidst all the chaos
Inner drive to keep going–I always figure out a way to make things work, and just don’t give up

You can nurture these within you, and slowly train yourself to have these become a part of you. To do this, you only need yourself and your patience and forgiveness.

How can folks who want to work with you connect?
Yes, I am always seeking others to collaborate with, of any medium, to do a joint creative exploration and have an art show together. I am also seeking partnerships with art galleries across Ohio, the Midwest and the US, wherein I can share my paintings and life story.

Contact Info:

Image Credits
Photo credit: Priya Rama

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