Meet Dr. Zenia McLaughlin

Spirit waits for us.
Spirit waits for us to listen.

My clients come to work with me already recognizing their inner guidance. They already acknowledge there is a “still small voice within” that speaks, guides, and accompanies us on our path.

But they don’t quite fully trust it yet.

Throughout the years, I’ve heard the nudge of Spirit, too. But, like many of us, I wasn’t sure I could trust it, either.

There are different ways we receive strong inner guidance:
Knowing things. Sensing things. Dreams. Someone saying something to us that, for whatever reason, feels significant. Like Spirit itself is speaking right to us.

The thing about Spirit is that it gently guides us.
Unless we don’t listen.
Then Spirit speaks louder.
And if we don’t listen then, Spirit speaks even louder.
Sometimes, that gets uncomfortable.
But if we still don’t listen?
Spirit speaks even louder still.
That’s when it can get painful.

Zenia McLaughlin

I. The Gentle Nudge

I received my Doctor of Chiropractic in 1999 and became certified at the highest level in Network Spinal Analysis (also known as Network Chiropractic) in 2004.

After graduation, I was considering a move to Europe for a relationship. I’d lived in the US my whole life, and uncertain. Did it make sense to move across an ocean for a relationship?, I asked myself. What if it doesn’t work out?

And then? I had a dream.

In the dream, I was standing on the beach with my surf instructor. (I’d never surfed before in my waking life). It was my first time surfing. Even in my dream, the ocean looked vast and scary. I told my surf teacher, “The ocean looks intimidating! Maybe we should try this another day.”

And he replied, “We could… but wouldn’t you regret it if you didn’t at least try?”

When I woke up, I knew this dream was a metaphor for going to Switzerland and seeing where this relationship would take me.

That’s Spirit speaking as a gentle nudge.

Maybe you’ve had a dream like that, too.

II. Unless We Don’t Listen

So I moved to Switzerland, where I went on to become the vice president of the Swiss Chiropractic Pediatric Association and serve as a lecturer on philosophy and wellness as part of the Swiss Chiropractic Association.

Eight years later, life was good. My career was good. My relationship was good.

But sometimes, I’d wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat.

I’d bolt upright in bed with a little voice inside me: Gotta get out of this relationship gotta get out gotta get out…

My rational mind was baffled: “What?! Why would I leave this relationship? Things are good!”

About a year later, I found out I was being cheated on, and the relationship – the same one I’d moved across an ocean for — exploded.

Spirit speaks as a gentle guide, unless we don’t listen. Then Spirit speaks louder.
Sometimes, that gets uncomfortable. If we still don’t listen, that’s when it can get painful.

As painful and brutal as the end of that relationship was, it got me to finally trust that Spirit is always there to guide me. To guide us all.

Zenia McLaughlin

III. Learning the Sacred Lesson

Around that time, I had a dream about being chased by a wolf.
I was trying to outrun it. But there were all these obstacles in my way that slowed me down.
I had to ride a unicycle in the snow. Jump over boulders. Make my way through a thick wintry forest.
As I ran, a tree branch scraped my face and arms.
I kept tripping and falling down.
And then, the wolf caught up with me.
There was nowhere left to run.
I did the only thing left for me to do.
I turned around and faced the wolf.
I expected it to devour me.
But instead, the wolf stood up on its hind legs, and with a smile on its face, started dancing.

Spirit waits for us to listen. Spirit speaks as a gentle guide.

When I awoke, I finally understood, deep in my bones: there are going to be ups and downs in life. But I will always be okay – and dance! — with what comes. Even if it’s scary at first. Even if it hurts. And that no matter what happens, I am totally cared for, protected and loved.

So are you.

Here’s the thing. You probably already know this. This isn’t news to you.

But what you may not know yet is how to listen to Spirit sooner, before it gets louder or uncomfortable or even painful.

Or what you may not know yet is how to tune in to that quiet knowing wherever you are, whatever’s going on around you.

Or, you simply may not trust yet that your connection with Spirit is available to you 24/7.

All of that is okay. All of that is normal. All of that is part of the journey.

But again:

Spirit is waiting for you.
Spirit is waiting for you to listen.
What Sacred Lesson is waiting for you right now?
And is it okay if Spirit simply shows you what you need to know about it?