Welcome, welcome, welcome!

Substack: Still Space's new home. A safe and sacred space for self enquiry and discovery, come say hello!

Inspired by my wonderful friend Emma Gannon, I am starting a Substack. I am relatively new to this space but from what I have gathered thus far, it’s a wonderful platform with awesome content, created for avid readers and writers (and omg the writers they have on here!!) to have total freedom, ownership and autonomy over their work. A big theme for me this year, autonomy — more on that later. 

Some of you will be new to my writing but others of you who jumped on the OG Still Space train back in 2016 — megatime appreciation shout out to you — will be familiar with some of the themes I was exploring back then, notably all the things I love the most: health & wellbeing, conscious living and of course, creativity, culture & the arts. You can expect lots more of the same here but I’m planning some surprises too. They might even include poetry, lol. (Sorry, not sorry.)

At its heart, Still Space has always been about connecting to ourselves in deeper and more meaningful ways. And presenting conscious living practices in their purest form: simple, accessible, available to everyone. The definition of conscious living is something akin to mindfulness but for me, much more profound and holistic. It’s a deep exploration of our relationship to self, our intuition, our humanity, and what it actually looks and feels like to live with conscious intention.

What Still Space isn’t, is a quick fix prescriptive space of how tos. There will be discussion and there will, eventually, be toolkits (I’m working on that and lots more in the background!) but it is ultimately a philosophical, evolutionary and exploratory space for myself through long-form writing, my Still Space. And thus it is my intention to create pieces each week that speak to and from my soul as a conscious living practitioner and trust, they will be enjoyed and discovered by the people that are called to read them.

The community I would love to foster here is one of compassionate listening and sharing. If you’re new here too please introduce yourself and say hello, below!

There are only two rules that as a member of the Still Space community I ask you to abide by:

1. Treat everyone you interact with in the discussion threads as though they were a friend.

2. Ask your friends questions, don’t give them advice ;)

Phrasing something as a question rather than telling others what to do (perhaps because in the past something worked for you), allows people the space to be vulnerable and through deep personal enquiry, find the answers within themselves. This truly for me is what it’s all about. Still Space and life in general :) So please show up to all the discussion threads from a space of not knowing, of beginners mind, of vulnerability, and always being willing to learn from one another. I will of course be sharing from my own personal experiences and where relevant, inviting you to share in the comments too if you feel happy to do so. I also want you to know there’s no ‘team’ behind me in this space, it’s all me. I read every comment and it will be me personally responding.

A note on Substack: Substack is a space predominantly dedicated to reading and writing and oh, I love to read but oh MAN, I love to write. It’s my favourite way of expressing myself - both in public and in private - though after 7 years it’s clear I have a little trouble committing to the former. Gotta start somewhere though and that’s what my first formal post, publishing tomorrow, is all about:

New Years, New Beginnings and Starting Somewhere.

If you subscribe to my Substack you will start receiving posts and updates right here in your inbox, including tomorrow’s post straight off the bat. You can also log in to the website at any time to get access to the full Still Space archives and all other posts as they are published. If you are already a member of Still Space you don’t need to do anything, you are already subscribed but you can upgrade your subscription for more benefits if you want to!

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Thank you so much for being here. If you would like to support my work, the best way is by taking out a paid subscription. Gift subscriptions are also available.

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To begin with I am going to keep things pretty open and see how we go, although any archived posts that I migrate over from 2016 will only be available to paid subscribers - this currently includes my original five-part Crash Course in Meditation, and the full unedited version of my article The Incredible Lightness of Being published in Psychologies Magazine, September 2016, for those who are interested. I will likely be adding more to this series in time. Also any posts encouraging discussion group threads that feel particularly vulnerable will also just be for paying members of the community from the off, to ensure that those who are sharing feel safe and comfortable doing so. 

A paid membership grants you full access to all posts, community discussion threads and the entire archive, as well as some surprises including guest contributor posts and additional media content. It is of course my intention to keep the cost low - from £1.05 a week if you sign up for an annual subscription.

Founder Members - subscribers who want to pay it forward to support the creation of content for our growing community - will also receive Early Bird offers, first-looks, exclusive announcements and Founder Member only posts. The first 50 Founder Members in addition, will receive a Lifetime Membership and a signed copy of Fleabag: The Scriptures. This really will be on a first come first served basis so if you would like to become a Founder Member or gift a membership to a friend, click below.

You can expect the posts to be broadly centred around the following, each week:

Themed Q&As / Conscious Living Discussion Threads

First up: Ask Me Anything about: FLEABAG

Conscious Living musings and practices

First up: New Years, New Beginnings and Starting Somewhere

Arts & Culture commentary and highlights

First up: Panah Panahi’s Hit The Road and other Awards Season upsets

As a member of the community I would also love you to treat this welcome post as a Suggestion Box! Any topics or themes you’d like me to explore, any burning existential questions, or even stuff to do with acting. Just pop it in the comments or email me sianclifford@substack.com. I would really love to hear from you so that I can create content that is inspired by the things that are percolating within you and our community, as well as within me. I will include as many as I can in the work I share.

I stopped setting yearly goals and resolutions some time ago now but perhaps not surprisingly, I am pretty big on intentions. It is my intention this year to take a big leap of faith in this space. I’ve planned for a handful of others elsewhere in my life too, but this is the first, so here goes…

Welcome to Still Space. Thank you for being here. What are some of your intentions for 2023?

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