The Community of Magical Weirdos. Plus: Connecting To "God" & What That Means For You (If Anything)And... A Questionnaire. Ooh La La.

Plus...Another FREE workshop for paid subscribers this Sunday with The Gina Minardi.

Hello, you fellow weirdo, whom I love so stinking much. Or, as my friend

Faith Scott

says: I love you so stupid much.

Faith also gave an amazing Tedx talk, fyi. Holy hell. Let me know if you watched and give her a thumbs up on Youtube (and mine, if you haven’t. That’s how it gets seen. Like everything. Algorithms. Meh.)

This Sunday April 20th, we have yet another amazing workshop for paid subscribers that you won’t want to miss. It’s with renowned therapist- and host of the popular Spaces Between podcast- Gina Minardi. You can listen to her podcast here or by clicking on her gorgeous face below.

You absolutely do not want miss this Sunday’s session. I can’t wait for you to fall in love with Gina, if you aren’t already. (Her voice alone will make you drool.) If the title makes you at least a little curious, you’ll want to hop on the Zoom. ( I know it makes me curious as f*ck.) All workshops will be recorded in case you can’t make them live, or you become a “paid” subscriber after it happens. The title again: Spaces Between: Connecting to “God.”

It starts at 12:30 pm pst (3:30 pm pst.) The Zoom info and password will be sent out in a separate email for paid peeps, which can easily be you, if you are not already.

If you are not a “paid” subscriber yet, but want to be- all you have to do is email proof of purchase that you pre-ordered my forthcoming book Proof Of Life and you’ll get 6 months as “paid” subscriber. If you order 2, you get a year. 3+ and you get a freakin’ lifetime paid subscription- which is nutso. But I said what I said.

Preorder here or by clicking the book cover below. My email is jennifer@jenniferpastiloff.com.

I am only offering this giveaway of my Substack until end of day on Monday 4/21. I have more workshops coming up too- including ones Kiese Laymon, Lidia Yuknavitch, Katie Hendricks, Paulina Porizkova and more. Plus, some with me alone. My autocorrect wrote plus, some with men alone. Ha ha ha! Um, no. None with men alone. Bears maybe?

It really is a great deal if you want to take advantage of my preorder offer and spread the word about it. It’s such a simple gesture that doesn’t cost money (sharing about it, I mean.) I am so grateful for you weirdos. And… I have some upcoming amazing things for more preorder incentives that I cannot wait to share with you. I am bursting at the seams to tell you!

If you think I am making it seem like preorders are of the utmost importance and I should just calm down already- oh, Lordy, Lordy, Lordy. They are of the utmost importance. If you only knew just how important they are and how hard it is if you aren’t wildly famous (or really rich lol lol not me) then…

I don’t know what the second half of that sentence was going to be. But suffice to say, it’s enough to make someone want to steer clear of the publishing a book. And yet- I shall not. This country (if you’re in the States) is terrifying at the moment, and if we start to give in to this kind of thinking, we are screwed. Even more so than we currently are. So no, I won’t stop making art and doing my best to get it out into the world. If I did- if any of us do- we are giving in to “that’s just the way it is” and I refuse to accept that (same as with my marriage, which you’ll read about the implosion of in Proof Of Life.)

I will not give in to the story that only a select few get to have their books on bookshelves and in bookstores. No Sireee Bob, as my beloved dad Mel, would say. ( I am so excited that I will be in convo at Powell’s in Portland with

Emily McDowell

on his death anniversary of July 15, as it is a scared day for me. Stay tuned for more info on my book tour- which, by the way, will be more expansive if I get enough preorders so… cough cough. )

Look, I want to be able to say that I did every single thing I could to get this book out there. I want to be able to proudly demonstrate that the I got you effect is a real thing. (Because it is, duh.) That when we support each other- magic happens.

That message is so needed right now, isn’t it? Isn’t it?

How have you felt the I got you effect in your own life? How can you be an I got you right now? For someone else? What about FOR YOURSELF? Read that last one again. For yourself.

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Today’s TSOWW The School Of Whatever Works in our 98 days of being our own permission slip: Connecting To “God.” (This convo here is making me even more excited for Gina’s session on Sunday!)

Whatever God means to you.

Replace God with Love, if you want. (I do.) Replace it with Nature or Everything or Self. You get to say what God is, after all. I find God in community, and in poetry. I find it in connection, period- which is why I am so drawn to connecting. Whatever makes me feel less alone on this planet. You can say God doesn’t exist. You get to do you and have you own beliefs and ways of being-without asking permission if you get to. And so it is.

Today’s invitation is to investigate what it means of you and then to actually find that connection to “God”- or whatever you want to replace that word or idea with.

What I’m really asking is if you are willing to take a pause? Pause and allow for whatever arises, without judgement or story, and without shoving it back down. I tend to shove everything back down and it’s the work of my life too Not do that. To allow instead.

I truly do hope you’ll share what comes up for you and what it looks (and feels) like when you allow for that connection. Inspiration is contagious. So is courage. When you share, it feels like a permission slip that I get to, as well. Even though it isn’t (only we can give ourselves permission)- it still feel that way and I say that is a good thing. Whatever works. So, please share. And if you haven’t introduced yourself yet here, please click on the comment button below and answer the below q’s (or at least some of them), with brevity or as long as your heart desires. We want to know your glorious weirdness!

• What city are you in?

• What is at least one awkward thing about you- at least in your own weirdo estimation? (Because it probably isn’t that awkward. )

• How did you end up here- in this land of fellow weirdos?

• What do you want to experience more of in your life? Or, what do you want to make space for? Or, what do you want to call in? (Another way to say that is what do you want to attract or manifest or “be/have” in your life?)

• What is the best thing someone could say to you right now? We want to know!

• What do yo want or need support with, or what do you want to share with us, or what are you proud of right now? (Brag please! This is an invite to do so! Becaus eit ain’t bragging, by the way.)

• What are you watching and/or reading right now?

• How are your bowel movements?

Fine, I was kidding about the poop one.

I mean, kind of. What?!

Everyone poops.¹

How in the name of a good poop do people get eyeballs on things? It seems as if very few folks have an attention span past 15 seconds (minus you all, of course. I mean, I hope?) Please give the video below a thumbs up, and if you are feeling really crazy, leave a comment? Share the eff out of it too, would you? It only goes on the big TED site if it has enough views and well…. It feels so big and I am trying not to cave into th big anticlimactic crash of it all, you know? Anyway, I love you. Byeeeeeeeee.

PS Answer the questionnaire pleaseeeeeeee. How else will we all get to know each other? I mean, should we have a pot luck? Wanna?

1. Except me.