Growing up, there were a lot of superstitious beliefs around me, like do not point your finger at a rainbow 🌈, hence your finger will fold until it reaches your chest 😊.
Do not blow the whistle at night, you could invite a snake into your home. Do not sweep your house at night; you are inviting poverty unknowingly. Do not sing while carrying a bucket of water from the stream, and always make sure your bowl of water is filled to the brim while you fetch water from the stream, or else you will end up having a child in the future with very deep eye sockets 😂. These are just a few out of many superstitious beliefs I heard while I was growing up.
As I grow older, I realize that some were just words from our elders to keep us in line in certain situations, due to the curious minds of kids. I also began to realize that some of those beliefs do come to pass. Among those I have experienced and still experience until now is hitting my toes on the ground or on objects.
If I am to be going somewhere, and just when I step my legs outside, I hit something with my left leg toe, I know something unpleasant will likely happen before I come back from that outing. To avoid such situations, I might simply go back inside and wait for a while before heading out.
On the other hand, if it were to be my right leg, I would smile and continue my outing because I knew something nice would most definitely happen. This is not something I believed in at the early stage of my life, though it is a very common belief at my place, but with time it manifests countless times that make me start taking precautions.
What changes my mindset
A long time ago, I was supposed to go out with my cousin in his car. Just when I came out of my gate, my left toe hit a stone. I just brushed it off, entered his car, and we started our journey. When we came out of our street into the main road, I told my cousin to park, as I needed to get something from a nearby shop, and he did park.
About three minutes later I was back inside the car. Just when we were about to take off, we nearly hit a girl who was hawking her street food. Thankfully, she wasn't hurt, but her food fell on the ground, and I had to compensate her with money. To her, she didn't know our car was taking off, and to my cousin, he didn't know the girl was about to cross behind our car.
Later that night, when I remembered hitting my left toe at the gate and the incident that followed, and some similar incidents in the past, I began to take note of such and take precautions. It could be pure coincidence, but one, two, and more than five times are no longer a coincidence. I started believing that maybe the universe was simply giving me a sign to be guided. If only I had gone back inside my house that day and delayed our outing for some minutes, the incident with the hawker girl might have been avoided.
My Dreams
Another thing is my dreams. I never used to take my dreams to be anything until I realized most of them do come true. And now I take my dreams seriously; I try to interpret them and be guided, it's safer for me this way than when I used to ignore them and face the consequences. 
Not only did I use to face harsh consequences for ignoring my dreams in the past, but they haunted me as well until I started learning to accept them as part of who I am. They don't scare me anymore; some are sweet dreams, though. Why some can be a bit scary, and when they are not the good ones, I pray to avert any bad occurrence, and also be mindful of the things I do.
This is my participation in this week's Ladies of hive contest and you are invited to participate.
Thank you so much for your time and support.
All images are mine.