Those of us who grew up with our

grandparents may remember an occasion or two when you were ready to go on the

town and paint it red only to be told “me have a dream ’bout you, it never

pretty…tan a u yard me chile”.

As much as we try to dismiss it as

superstition and foolishness, subconsciously we could not shake it off and probably

got undressed or spent the entire evening being pensive if we did go out, too

scared of possible repercussions to truly enjoy ourselves.

A part of our African retention, dreams

are said to be a way that our ancestors communicate with us and though many dismiss

it, the fact that Cash Pot is one of the biggest lottery games, played several

times daily, should tell us something. That belief kills and belief cures.

Dreams are felt to be magical because

we can’t conjure them, stop them or have science fully explain them. Leading

philosophers and mystics over the centuries try to romanticise them and put

their own meaning to it.

Renowned painter and inventor Leonardo

da Vinci got a lot of his creativity from dreams which he said were so vivid

they were life-like. Dreams are said to offer guidelines for our lives and this

is why some believe they foreshadow the future.

There are many theories about dreams

and how to make sense of them. Probably the most famous belongs to neurologist

Sigmund Freud who posited that they occur when our conscious ego is relaxed and

unguarded and whatever we have repressed is released into our thoughts, manifesting

as dreams.

Indeed, some scientists believe dreams

are unconscious thoughts. The most that can be concluded from dream theories is

that they may be a fusion of suppressed desires, memories and possibly our

brains inner working to concoct stories.

So what about predicting the future?

That is still up for debate as normally you heard about predictions after

events have occurred not before they take place.

Additionally, some studies explain this

away with memory biases and coincidences. Regardless of your position, chances

are if a neighbour says he dreamt about a big rat in the backyard, you would

run out buy the number 15 in Cash Pot!