Johnson - Creating calm in the center of crazy: making room for your soul in an overcrowded life

Acclaim for Nicole Johnson

Nicole has the ability to enter tough places and connect us to light and hope. Thanks, Nicole, for doing it again.

D R. H ENRY C LOUD, AUTHOR, P OWER OF THE O THER

Nicole is unbelievably funny, incredibly familiar with her own unconscious (and everybody elses), and has the rare talent of making you want to read every word she writes. Its unusual to find this kind of wit with this much brilliant psychological insight.

D R . N EIL C LARK W ARREN, FOUNDER, E H ARMONY.COM

I love the promise of this book. We are all familiar with the crazy pace of life. What a gift to be guided to the calm.

S HEILA W ALSH, AUTHOR , I N THE M IDDLE OF THE M ESS

Nicole deftly reveals what brokenness looks and feels like, and with humor and vulnerability, invites us to walk with her through the necessary, painful, and ultimately liberating steps toward wholeness and joy. If a truly more integrated life is what you are looking for, this is the place to start.

C URT T HOMPSON , MD

In her new book, my dear friend Nicole bravely shares her journey, draws a map we can use, and hands us the keys. If youve ever thought something has to change in your crazy life, this book will be your guide.

A NGELA T HOMAS P HARR, SPEAKER ; BESTSELLING AUTHOR, R EDEEMED

Nicole is not only one of the best communicators we know, shes also one of the most winsome and wise friends we have. Witnessing her journey has profoundly changed our lives, and this book will no doubt change yours too.

J AY AND K ATHERINE W OLF, COAUTHORS AND COFOUNDERS OF H OPE H EALS

With unusual candor, humor, and insight, Nicole shows women how to experience inner peace, joy, and sanity in the center of their crazy. She offers practical tools for finding calm and thriving amid a chaotic schedule, home life, and career.

D OREE D ONALDSON, DIRECTOR, C ONVOY: W OMEN

In a world wrought by distraction and busyness, Nicole offers an easy to follow pathway that will lead you to a more focused and calm life. No matter what your life looks like now, it will be enriched by the reading of these pages.

P EPPER S WEENEY, ACTOR AND DIRECTOR

During the first few pages of Nicoles book, you will laugh knowingly and look around sheepishly. Then she will take you on a journey to recover your own soul. Her book is a gift.

L AURIE P OLICH S HORT, AUTHOR , W HEN C HANGING N OTHING C HANGES E VERYTHING

ZONDERVAN

Creating Calm in the Center of Crazy

Copyright 2017 by Nicole Johnson

Requests for information should be addressed to:

Zondervan, 3900 Sparks Dr. SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Epub Edition April 2017 ISBN 9780310345084

ISBN 978-0-310-34507-7 (hardcover)

ISBN 978-0-310-34508-4 (ebook)

Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.Zondervan.com. The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.

Any Internet addresses (websites, blogs, etc.) and telephone numbers in this book are offered as a resource. They are not intended in any way to be or imply an endorsement by Zondervan, nor does Zondervan vouch for the content of these sites and numbers for the life of this book.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any otherexcept for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Cover art: Corrie Lauridsen

Interior design: Denise Froehlich

First printing April 2017 / Printed in the United States of America

For the Seasons Weekend community;

without you there would be no story

THE PERFECTION GARDEN

If I could plant a Perfection Garden

Id grow a lot of peaceful parsley to stop the meanness in the world.

Its a tall beautiful purple plant that calms people down!

When you eat it, it changes frowns into smiles.

My mom would plant the Time Thyme.

She always needs more time to take care of our family!

Time Thyme is amazing!

When you eat it, it makes the clock go backwards for two hours

So my mom can get more done!

MY SON, ELLIOT, AGE 7, 2013

THIS BOOK was nine years in the making.

I tell you this not to raise your expectations but to lower them. It has taken me that long to get enough space and calm in my life to write this book.

My recipe for crazy is not one I would recommend, but most of us have the ingredients on handbusy work schedule; relationships and responsibilities that dont respond to our timetable; full social calendar; parenting activities; and so on. Depending on the mix and the amount of each ingredient, we create crazy or we create calm.

Of course, no one sets out to create crazy. I certainly didnt. Crazy is what happened to me when I was too overwhelmed to pay attention to my life. After my two babies were born in the midst of my full-time touring schedule, I wasnt paying attention to my name, much less whether I was living a meaningful life. I was in survival mode and so grateful we were all still alive at the end of each day!

At the time Im writing this, I have not cracked the code to having a completely sane and calm life. Im not sure there is such a thing. Its more like one day my heart and soul were cracked open through a crisis. Forced by emotional pain to sit still, I discovered a deeper place inside myself, partly by accident and partly by choosing to remain still in the midst of the pain. Resisting the pull to return to crazy, I discovered some new ways to create calm amid a life that too often floods its banks.

So if you bought this book thinking I have all the answers you need to create calm, dont feel bad for asking for your money back. I am not living on a serene island, enjoying umbrella drinks and having spa treatments.

When I started this book, it was about ways a person could have a calmer life. I was several chapters in, feeling great about what I was writing, when it dawned on me that I wasnt sharing the whole story. I think subconsciously I was avoiding the awful truth: a crisis was the catalyst for creating calm. Suddenly, I wasnt as keen on writing this book. I feared the emotional effort involved to write that book would take way more time and explanation than I had in me. Youre trying to help people find calm, for crying out loud! Why make yourself crazy trying to write about something so difficult and so intensely personal? Why not just journal about it and look back on it privately as needed? Better still, why not pick another subject altogether,like Seven Simple Meals for Busy Families? Surely that will create calm somewhere in the world!

I had to ask myself whether writing such a personal book about creating calm would warrant the added crazy (walking through the crisis again, spending more time writing than Id anticipated, having less freedom to enjoy the open space Id created, putting more pressure on my husband) that this kind of writing requires of me. I wasnt sure. Im still not sure. (Dont ask my kids whether it was warrantedunless you can wait a few more years.) Either way, I committed to restart the book and share more about what started me on the journey, not just the benefits that I have experienced since. This became a better book and I became a better student of myself and of the world around me. A world, I firmly believe needs more voices willing to examine the crazy way we live these days. With overcommitted schedules, pressure-filled homes, mad racing about, and way too much wine drinking (but enough about my life), this crazy way of our culture is not healthy, nor does it seem deeply satisfying to anyone. Not only does it not produce what we have been led to think it will, this insanely busy living is stealing from the marrow of our souls the very richness we need to create meaningful lives.