I had that locker combination dream again recently. You know, the one where you’re in school and you can’t get your locker open. I’ve had the locker combination dream dozens of times, always waking before I figure out how to open that door.
In the recent version of the dream, I was once again in school. It was the first day of class, but oddly, my fellow students and I were well into adulthood. In fact, some were former teachers and administrators in the schools of my youth who are well past retirement in real life.
My Locker Combination Dream
In the dream, I was first in my room in the home I grew up in trying to decide what to wear. Would I be comfortable in short sleeves or would it be chilly in school? While I was making what seemed like a very important decision, I also realized I was late. If I didn’t get going, I wouldn’t have time to get a cup of coffee to bring to class (I guess this was a reference to my college and graduate school days when I wouldn’t think of trying to get through class without coffee)!
Looking for the Locker
I got to school and discovered that not only did I not know my locker combination, but I wasn’t even sure where my locker was. “Not this again,” I thought (in the dream). I had carefully noted the location and the combination. How could I not know where to go or how to open the locker this time?
I was about to give up. I sat cross-legged on the floor with my head in my hands and cried. I’d been here so many times, and I just didn’t have the energy or desire to try to figure it out anymore.
After a few minutes, though, I realized I couldn’t continue to sit there on the floor. I forced myself up and looked around, though I doubted I’d find what I was looking for. I was on the third floor of the building, searching frantically for the locker. Still no luck.
Then a calm voice in my head reminded me, “It’s upstairs.” It wasn’t dramatic. It was just a quiet voice within. I followed some of the older people up one flight of stairs. Sure enough, my locker was there on the top floor of the building. “I think it’s near the science rooms,” the voice in my head suggested.
I found my locker (my name was on it). It was the first in its row, a few doors down from the science wing. I noticed this locker was bigger and nicer than the gray, steel lockers in earlier versions of the locker combination dream (and real life).
But there was still the problem of opening it. I still didn’t know the combination.
Listen for the Clicks
“Just listen for it,” the voice said. “These lockers are designed to be used by thousands of intelligent people. Just listen and you’ll be able to hear the combination.”
Trusting that voice, I slowly turned the knob clockwise until I heard a very subtle click; then I turned it counterclockwise, then clockwise again. It opened with the combination “19-3-12.” I began repeating the numbers to myself as I searched for a pen to write the combination down.
My inner voice spoke up again. “You won’t forget this. It’s 1932, except not 2 but 12.” I could remember that, I decided.
A man next to me had just opened his locker, and he was delirious with relief. We exchanged recollections of all the times we had to go to the office to ask for our combinations in the past in other schools. Who knew it was as easy as just listening for things to click?
The Locker Combination Dream is Resolved. Or is It?
Quickly, something else occurred to me. If all I had to do was listen for the clicks, then anyone else could come along and do the same. Anyone, if they listened closely, could open my locker and steal its contents.
As I thought about this, I noticed a woman over my left shoulder. She was clearly watching for me to write down my combination so she could copy it.
“It won’t work for her,” I heard. “The combination is for you alone.”
Confident, I smiled at the woman, and went about gathering the books and materials I would need for class. But now a few people were gathering around me asking me to help them open their lockers. I wasn’t sure how I could help them. They’d just have to do the same thing I did, I figured. I didn’t want to disappoint them, but I didn’t know how to explain this.
And that, this time, is when I woke up.
I do like to analyze dreams, but in this case, I’m not going to try to figure out why I woke up when I did. At least now I can open my own locker!
Third Eye 