Soul making plays a major role in art-production; it is a form of crafting stories, transforming brief

moments into images, symbols that connect with people, understanding culture and embodying
tolerance, peace, and imagination.

Knowing oneself

In soul making, "who are you" is the topic that throughout the process serves as a
guidepost. Knowing oneself begins with consciousness. In order to start the process, it is
necessary to realize and embrace one's truth, history and understanding of existence. With
this new found insight, art, which is actually the very core of soul-making, can now come
into play. Therefore, it is not so much the production that is mostly taken into account, but
the method of perceiving anything.

Depths and essence

Soul making is more than the soul's religious perspective. Soul refers to a person's
individuality that resonates with his or her behavior. Since art is a human expression that is
highly valued and symbolic, a person typically uses different art forms to fulfill the need to
communicate and express him or herself. The human desire to actualize his or her very
being is strongly assisted by soul making.

What we are doing

Art gives a person a sense of purpose about what he or she is doing. As any artwork is an
expression of one's perceptions, feelings, emotions, and realities, the key to personal
cultural growth is the process of creating such expression. Soul making utilizes every
human experience to build the influence that can make the artist himself and others
improve.
 Everyday life

includes a lot of adventure, understanding the challenges that come with each adventure,
and understanding how each person has a unique way of perceiving things as life happens
to them. Soul making is a method that can be gone through by anyone. As all are creative
in their own right, it is not limited to the "obviously artistic". It's just a matter of losing
yourself in the art of viewing the world from a different perspective and detaching yourself
from yourself.

Categories of Soul Making

1. Crafting Images –Crafting images includes the production, by various forms and methods, of
visual representations of images. Any art form such as drawing, sketching, and sculpting can
be used to perform this process. Dancing, poetry (or black-out poetry), musical instrument
playing, and even filmmaking may also do this.
2. Crafting Stories – He or she is already creating stories when an individual writes down his or
her own personal feedback, life values, deep feelings, ideas, ideals, and even high and low
emotions. Similar to crafting images, he or she may be portrayed by different means when one
craft story is presented. Stories can be relayed via vivid photos, calming music, and impactful
sentences.
3. Crafting Instruments – Crafting instruments are treated as "a bridge to the unknown because
the instrument creates sounds that exceed our thoughts, emotions, and sensations. The soul
is accompanied by a vessel so that the soul will not disappear." Instruments help people
explore the magic behind music and its unique impact on a person. Such musical instruments
can establish the soul's harmonious sustenance and the mind's balance.
4. Crafting Movements – Life is movement, according to Dr. Narciso (2016). [One's] life is full of
different rhythms. "Our life is full of movements, it is full of different rhythms, life is full of
flowing images accompanied by narratives, and this melodic flow symbolizes how the universe
gives every human being the ability in their respective lives to experience the highs and lows."
For artists who are more inclined to crafting movement, the pattern that life serves a person
provides a source of inspiration.
5. Crafting Techniques – Crafting techniques in soul making are the artist's reflection of his life
and experiences in any piece of art. The approach, preferably, should be methodological. A
soul maker, though, when he executes his creative expression, is unbounded.
5 Phases of Soul Making

1. Seeking – The first step is seeking or finding. At this point, we recognize that each of us who
are interested in our own growth and the ways of our world is a 'seeker.' We are looking for a
discipline or method that can help us live in and make sense of the world and heal the wounds
of 'self.'
The best thing about searching is that it is a vital stage in our growth as soul builders. It gives
us the tools to live our lives, and if we systematically look, we find that in some integral sense,
these tools and practices can be fitted together, allowing us to settle down, moving us on to
a practice or cluster of practices that satisfy our creativity and passion, and that we can then
spend time perfecting.

2. Settling – Soul making is about communicating as profoundly as possible with the soul, with
other human and non-human beings (and this means the future of humans and non-humans)
and with the world. If we are perpetually wondering, we cannot do this. We must find
ourselves settled at some point in our lives.
3. Surrender – If it is permitted to surrender, with all its pain and vulnerability, something magical
will happen. We tend to note in the midst of the crashing that our activities begin to be in the
service of the soul. The capacity to surrender, of course, is restricted by the amount of pain
and uncertainty that we can bear! True surrender takes us up and throws us down; calls for the
wounds we bear to be accepted; forces us to spend time living in the darkness.
4. Soul making – At some point in the variations between the Settling and Surrender dual
polarities, we begin to perceive our practice and life in the universe as Soul Making. We are
beginning to become an expert, an injured healer. We're starting to grow up enough to feed
our girls, our children, our children. We accept that there's no way to ever get it right.
Soul Making is the fourth stage, in which the individual transitions from a stage of improving
reflective practice to becoming a practitioner of soul making. However, this is still not to be
completely settled in, since it holds all the strengths and disadvantages of the previous levels.
Both of us have to keep looking. Throughout life, we all settle and re-settle. We would all be
met with the psyche 's appeal for submission, over and over again. And it will constantly call
upon our capacity to care and nurture (others and the world).
5. Soaring – When we begin the journey, what we most wish is to soar. To conquer our worldly
experience's material realities-to travel. It will not happen, however, if we only want to fly, nor
can the psychological version of a spaceship or airplane be created by ourselves. What may be
true is that we could find ourselves soaring, together, engulfed in the air and sky, by enabling
ourselves to pass through the stages of Soul Making.
 Soul making: Making and Deriving Meaning from Art

Semantics and grammatical rules are essential elements to remember in order for human beings to
make sense of language and derive meanings from words. Apart from this, it is often known that
meaning and symbolisms view and evaluate either verbal or written works. In terms of art, it would
involve understanding the visual elements on which art was focused, particularly the concepts of
design, in order for people to make sense of the work. It is important to remember that the viewer
must have a certain degree of understanding of the work 's style, shape, and material. It would be
impossible to appreciate the visual arts in their fullness and completeness without such
understanding.

Improvisation

It is possible to describe improvisation as doing something without previous planning. There is a

decision to act upon something that might not be expected necessarily. Improvisation has become
an important part of the arts within the present context. Some would claim that during the
twentieth century, it was a response to the stiffness of the arts. There is a call for emancipation
from monotony aimed at rekindling people's creative spirits in the arts.

Infusing spontaneity and improvisation add up to the totality of the work of art for certain artists.
The unpredictability of the changes brought on by improvisation enables the artwork to have a
distinctive quality that creates its identity and uniqueness. The principle of allowing opportunities
in the process of making the work is supported by some artists. Artists would like, for instance, to
depict the darkness brought on at night by an incoming storm or the beauty of a meteor shower.
Since they do not inherently have total influence over natural phenomena, their dependency on
opportunities may not necessarily deliver their anticipated result. Artists who encourage their
subjects to improvise can often have entirely different outcomes.

Appropriation

Throughout history, appropriation of art has been a common occurrence. In the past, an apprentice
painter would be able to use his master 's work to copy if he wanted to hone his skills in his art. It
is as if the apprentice is attempting to explore what he is more familiar with through his personal
application of techniques. There are, however, several individuals who have reached the extreme
by assuming that an artist 's exact artwork is replicated and credited to himself. This could pose a
problem with authorship in particular. The issue occurs when the artist of appropriation gets bits
and pieces from other works and incorporates these elements into his own work. Furthermore,
 when appropriation artists escape responsibility for putting the specifics of other works and
incorporating them into their own, with that of the appropriation artist, their voices and
perceptions of the other artists are lost.

A very thin demarcation line seems to exist between the art of appropriation and forgery. Forgery
can historically be categorized into two forms: outright copies of existing works and pastiches,
which are works that incorporate elements of a work and infuse them into a new work. But forgery
may be in the form of making an interpretation of what an artist might do by prediction in
contemporary times. This can be accomplished by studying the techniques and style used by the
artist and also the focal points highlighted in his past and present works. Since problems of
plagiarism or forgery often arise, the motives of the appropriation artists are sometimes
challenged. Some would say that the purpose behind the appropriation is that they want the
audience to remember the images they replicated. There is a desire on the artist's part that the
audiences will see a new take on the original work

7 da Vincian Principles

What does it mean to be genius? Is genius born or made – or both? The idea of "genius
thinking" can sound rather overwhelming, but you'll be pleased to find that it's simpler and a lot more
enjoyable than you thought. The method of Leonardo will affirm many of your own strongest
intuitions as to how you can access your own ability. Here are the seven genius principles of Leonardo
da Vinci that will open your imaginative aorta and unleash your genius.

1. Curiosità – is an insatiably curious approach to life and unrelenting quest for continuous
learning. Da Vinci was not the only one to represent a nearly unlimited supply of curiosity.
Some of the great inventors and leaders of humanity have the ability to unlock life's mysteries.
think about curiosity in 2 basic questions:
✓ What If: Ask your brain to project into the future. It encourages you to see options
where you might have overlooked them, it allows you to make connections and it is a
sneaky way to get your brain more goal oriented. What if I started this person's
conversation? What if I attempted a new activity like this? What if I began the new
schedule of workouts? Usually, what happens after 'what if...' is mystical.
✓ How Come: How come brings you to 'Why'. Instead of watching the environment
passively or going through reflex replies, 'how come' makes you challenge both your
actions and the intentions of others. Da Vinci didn't waste his life for a second. He was
making and guessing and tinkering all the time. 'How come' allows you to use a mission
every second of your life.
 2. Dimostrazione – is a commitment to test knowledge through experience, persistence and a
willingness to learn from mistakes. Dimostrazione is the embodiment of your own hands
controlling your life. This principle tells us:

a. Test every idea.

b. Don’t take anything for granted.

c. Experience life first hand.

For instance, If I take this personal growth lesson, then I expect to be healthier. Or as
simple as if I were reorganizing my wardrobe, then in the morning it would be easier to get dressed.
The 'If ..., then ...' exercise places you in the mood of chance-hunting, so you still look for and try
alternatives

3. Sensazione – is the continual refinement of the senses, especially sight, as the means to
enliven experience.

Here are some ways you can capture more Sensazione:

A Sense a Day: Plan out 5 experiences in the next few months where you practice honoring
each of your senses.

• For smell, go to the local botanical gardens, make your own perfume or cologne
and learn to recognize herbs by their scent at the local grocery store.
• For taste, (this one is easy!) eat a bunch of your favorite foods and try one new
cuisine. Figure out your favorite spice.
• For sight, go to your local museum, then hike to a vista or view point and learn
some new photography techniques.
• For touch, go to your local animal shelter and volunteer petting pups and kitties.
Go through your closet and organize it by fabric. Go shopping and try to buy one
new fabric you have never owned before.
• For hearing, go to a concert, stop by your local music store and try to play an
instrument you have never heard before. If you are really ambitious, try to learn
bird mating calls or spend some time trying to draw sound. For example, if you had
to draw the sound of a trumpet, how would you do it?
4. Sfumato – is a willingness to embrace confusion, paradox, and confusion. Da Vinci had a very
special capacity to comprehend the extreme opposites of views and phenomena. He was also
able to explore and revel in the uncertainty of unknowns. Most of us are uncomfortable with
questions not being known or unanswerable, so we avoid anything beyond our control. We
stick to what we know and do a Google search right away the moment we don't know
something.

Here are some ways you can capture more Sfumato:

• Stop Googling: For the next week, anytime you need to look up a word or trivia
fact, try to guess the answer instead. You can phone a friend for help as well, as
long as they brainstorm with you too!
• Embrace Your Ambiguity: List some situations from your life where you are
confused or feel ambiguous about an outcome and explore the feelings that come
up.
• Cultivate Confusion Endurance: Tap into your own paradoxes by asking questions
like, “How are my strengths and weaknesses related?” or “What is the relationship
between my saddest moments and the most joyful ones?”

5. Arte/Scienza – is the development of the balance between science and art, logic and
imagination. Although Da Vinci was not around for the right and left-brain learning
experiments, this notion speaks directly to the whole brain thinking idea.

Label the declarations that sound like you:

Right Brained: ___ I like details ___ I am almost always on time ___ I rely on logic ___ I am
skilled at math ___ I am organized and disciplined ___ I like lists

Left Brained: ___ I am highly imaginative ___ I am good at brainstorming ___ I love to doodle
___ I often say or do the unexpected ___ I rely on intuition ___ I often lose track of time
6. Corporalitá - The cultivation of beauty, inborn talent, fitness and poise is called Corporalita. In
addition to his intellectual ability, Da Vinci was unbelievably athletic. From early on, he knew
that his body also had to be in top shape if he wanted his mind to work at optimum levels.

Here are some ways you can capture more Corporalita:

• Learn the Science of Eating: I did a whole post on the science of eating on some
really easy ways to make your food intake more purposeful.
• Get on a Sleep Schedule: Everyone has different sleep needs and different sleep
rhythms. For the next week, track your sleep times and hours and see which days
you have the most energy. Are you a night worker? A morning person? Learn your
cycles and then honor them by building a sleep routine.
• Cultivate Ambidexterity: Da Vinci used both his right and left hands as he worked.
You can do this by trying to brush your teeth with your non dominant hand or get
a really patient person to play a game of pool, tennis or catch where you switch
hands!

7. Connessione – is a recognition of and appreciation for the interconnectedness of all things and
phenomena.

Here are some ways you can capture more Connessione:

• What’s Your Book Outline? If you had to create a table of contents for a book about your life,
what would it be if you couldn’t make it chronological?

• 3 Objects: Pick 3 random objects in your house. If you had to find connections between them,
what would they be? For example, I chose my blender, my garage clicker and a bottle of nail
polish. Can you think of three connections? I thought: With all three of these things, the faster
they work, the better. The faster the blender, the better the smoothie, the faster the garage
door opens, the faster I get home and the faster my polish dries, the less risk there is of my
mushing up my toe nails. This is a great one to play with kids!