Why can't I lucid dream?

I've been trying to lucid dream for over a year now and have almost become lucid a few times but every time something happens that destroys my lucidity, the first few times it happened I woke immediately after realizing I was dreaming. The next few times when I was able to hold onto them for a bit longer I would say "I'm dreaming!" and somebody around me would say "No you're not, you're acting retarded stop being such an idiot." and I would believe them. The last time I became lucid was a few nights ago and after realizing I was lucid I was suddenly surrounded by fog and had no control over the dream, I had to run through the fog constantly reminding myself I was dreaming. When I was finally out of the fog I tried to push my fingers through my palm but it didn't work, I was sure I was dreaming so I tried to breathe with my nose plugged but that also did't work. This combined by the fact that I didn't seem to have any control over what was happening led me to the conclusion that I was not dreaming. Any advice about why this keeps happening?

You have to honestly let yourself believe you're dreaming. You can't just possess the knowledge that you you are.
The reason why you wouldn't be able to push your finger through your hand or breath even though your nose was pinched shut was because you didn't let yourself expect that you'd be able to.
Also, man, you gotta watch out for those DC's. They're projections of your subconscious, (usually) which wants to be able to review the day's new memories and teach you what you have to learn without interference, so they'll usually either be quite bitter about the fact that you're lucid if you're really confident in yourself, or try to destroy your lucidity or prevent you from obtaining it in the first place.

Sounds like you are doing awesome! Do not be in a hurry. You have your whole life to get better.

Seriously, it sounds like you are on course. If it takes ONLY 3 years to get it down, you will still have decades to enjoy it. It is a very high end skill and will take time.

It's perfectly normal for the first few lucids to be very short. Don't think of it like "something always destroys my lucidity" - the fact is you were lucid! It's always going to end - sometimes in mere seconds, sometimes (when you've gotten more used to the dream state) longer.

Also, I'm jealous that you were able to get out of the fog - that in itself is quite a feat! How'd you do it? I haven't had fog yet - for me it's darkness and so far I haven't been able to dispel it.

How do you do the fingerpalm technique? Are you giving it enough time? It takes a little while of constant pressure before it'll suddenly go through. This seems to be universal to most phasing activity (going through solid materials). Just a little mild but steady pressure, expecting to go through, and after a few seconds suddenly the feel of the surface will change - my hand becomes like bologna or something and my finger just slides through it. Once when I tried to go out through the window in my room (in pitch blackness) I pressed my hands against the glass for a while and suddenly it turned to cling wrap and it was bowing out from the pressure of my hands - I pressed a little longer and suddenly my arms and shoulders and head were outside - I could hear the abrupt change from room ambience to a gentle breeze and crickets, and I could feel the air moving on my face.

I think the same is true for the nosepinch too - I always hold it for a little while. In those dreams where I can breathe underwater it always seems like at first I'm actually holding my breath for a few seconds, and then suddenly I can't hold it anymore and I start breathing with a convulsive gasp - even though I'm still underwater.

It might just be that you're doing them too fast.

No, you can lucid dream! :)
Think positive and don't think that something destroys it something, in fact, it's be better not to worry about length entirely! I once had pretty long dream length dry spell and was trying to find the 'problem', but then i had long lucid when i just stopped thinking about it and was like "Whatever length will be, i will enjoy it". ;)
By the way, how you do reality checks? If you do them on auto, then you are doing it wrong, mindset is important for reality checks and you should actually believe that you might be dreaming when you do them and look around for anything weird. Also after doing reality checks and it shows you that you are awake, never think anything like "No, i am not dreaming", think "When i will be dreaming i will do reality check" or something along that. :zzz:
Check out this thread: http://www.dreamviews.com/dild/13212...ods-dilds.html :peek:

To the contrary to the title of your post, you can lucid dream and you are doing it. You got some excellent replies above, not much to add, really.

Just keep doing what you doing, have confidence, know, that it's normal the way it's happening for you. When you RC during day, believe that it will work, because you are in a dream. Read a lot about LDing. You will get better as you go, although you are already pretty good. Happy dreams:alien:

I was in and out of lucid dreaming practice for almost two years before I got anything even close to a lucid dream, and now I suddenly have them quite easily 2-3 times a month without even trying. :cheeky:

You seem to have had lucid dreams already, so all you need to do now is keep practicing and believe in yourself! :)

Also make sure that you practice your dream recall.
This is very important, I can't remember how many times I have found myself realizing that I was lucid one night and had almost forgotten about it.