I awoke this morning deep in dream. A colleague/friend was lamenting her fear of ATM machines. She quaked with fear, heart rate rising uncomfortably, visibly trembling, at the very thought of an ATM transaction.

During a walk with her, in this dream, she recounted a conversation she had with a mutual friend of ours who was facing a huge decision. “Listen to the smallies, I told her,” said my friend. What did you say? Oh, okay, I get it, huge tasks, projects, activities can be broken down into smaller components.

Aha, so let’s do the ATM according to ‘listen to the smallies.’ I had this great idea that she should put her ATM card in, and just practice listening to the beeps, entering her ID, and exiting without completing a real transaction. A line formed behind her, she freaked. Heart pounding, fingers, even hands and arms trembling like a branch in a tornado, we had to leave.

Then, she mentioned the challenge of scheduling appointments into her calendar. “Listen to the smallies,” I advised. A calendar is nothing more than big space comprised of little spaces. Fill them one at a time, you’re done. Now, how can this work in other areas, like diet and exercise?

Daily intake: a large number of calories comprised of smaller meals and snacks. Bingo! New deposit into the checking account in the morning of 2,200 calories, 4 debits thru-out the day in increments of 550 calories. Keep receipts, file under ‘mission accomplished.’ Blood sugar stable, heart rate even, energy levels stellar.

Or, deposit into daytime account 8 oz of protein, 4 fruits, 5 vegetables, 6 grains, 2 dairy products. Debit one at a time or in company with each other, like 4 oz salmon, 1 c. broccoli, 1 c. carrots, 1 c. quinoa with cranberries and walnuts.

Enter exercise at 10,000 steps a day. Just begin, take one step at a time, add them up on a pedometer. It’s a huge chunk of output measured in tiny smallies called steps.

Big events are just small sections blended together to create the whole. Listen to the smallies.