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The Simone B’Free Library consists of decades worth of writing by psychotherapist and independent academic
Shari Read PhD.
This collection of work by Shari Read represents several decades worth of thinking and reflection. From a very early age, Shari embarked on a journey of self discovery. Rejecting the notion that the meaning of life was to accumulate personal wealth, Shari has explored the reality of existence through the lenses of clinical and social psychology, psychotherapy, Buddhism, yoga, and philosophy to uncover her personal truths about this conscious, human experience. She has contrasted this collection of humanistic, existentialist perspectives with an evidence-based understanding of the social and political environments in which we ‘operate’, i.e. work and do business. As a university academic Shari taught management, entrepreneurship and leadership, which a special focus on change management and organisational transformation. As a researcher she examined role identity in the workplace, particularly around role transitions (e.g. retirement) and leader identity in the context of complexity and radical change.
The Simone B’Free library includes both free and premium content. Much of the free content has been published elsewhere or is a current project, thus, the space is both an archive and a laboratory. An archive in the sense that it is a collection of significant pieces of work, and a laboratory in the way Simone shares live thoughts, reflections and images through her blog and other forms of exchange and engagement. In some ways, the blog And she flies… can be seen as a live performance, slow moving for sure, but an emerging dynamic narrative, with a live audience nonetheless.
The SB’F Premium VIP Collection contains more significant pieces of work. This space is both a special collection and an interactive classroom, a space for learning and growth through meaningful exchange. Theoretical papers, philosophical essays, ebooks, identity work worksheets, video guides, audio recorded meditations, poetry and prose. You can access this content as a SB’F VIP Library and Gallery member.
And she flies…
In the blog ‘And she flies…’ Dr Shari Read shares story, analysis and reflection as she explores the world through the eyes of Simone B’Free, radically authentic writer, model, photographer.
Archives
Short articles, prose and poetry on topics such as personal sovereignty, identity work, transformation, transcendence, consciousness, and other critical reflections.
Premium Collection
Theoretical papers, philosophical essays, ebooks, identity work worksheets, video guides, audio recorded meditations, poetry and prose. You can access this collection via Patreon.
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From the blog And she flies…
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With a certain level of cognitive maturity it becomes possible to continually rewrite and updates one’s own narrative, not to delude or omit, but to evolve and develop. To grow. A type of complex adaptive reasoning, that experiences identity as pliable, like modelling clay. You only have one particular lump of clay to work with, but you get to craft, shape and mould it.
The trick seems to be in nuanced, intentional crafting – gently, subtly altering your relational self to help the other be at their best, to enable, facilitate, and navigate complexity. The complexity in the world around us, the complexities that arise between us and those we carry within.
I’m starting to believe that understanding and being able to intentionally ‘drive’ or manage your own complexity is the ultimate secret to navigating the world around us. To embrace all that you are, the shadows, the paradoxes, the reactive, hurt child. The saint and the sinner, the madonna and the whore.
Women’s sovereignty in particular is attached to the social norms and expectations around the division of labour. If a woman is expected to raise children, prepare food, clean the house, the clothes, how does she find time to pursue grand ideas? In this way, her ideas are kept small by her circumstances.
Just as Virginia Wolfe exposes in a room of one’s own, not only does one need physical space to think and write, and create, but one also needs the mental space to allow for emergence, the wonder, to experiment, to meditate and contemplate and be inspired by everything around.
But with this physical space then comes the freedom to explore other things, to wonder about other aspects of one’s identity, other interests or passions, desires not yet explored….imagine a world where all women everywhere were liberated in their sexuality, felt free to dress and express themselves authentically, with no concern about shape or size, just the freedom that comes from the confidence gained from truly loving one’s self, not through the lens of the ego, but the compassionate understanding of the heart and soul.
The path to sovereignty is paved by love.
Learning to love your self unconditionally is identity work.
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Simone B’Free (by Shari Read)
