Hi.. I have been studying and practicing lucid dreaming for quite some time now, and have had several lucid dreams. But in ALL of my lucid dreams I ALWAYS wake up as soon as I realize I am dreaming. I have never actually had an actual lucid dream (where I could do stuff).. i always woke up seconds after. I know a good technique is to stay calm. And I have tried doing this but it doesnt seem to be doing much.

Like i took a nap this evening, and I had a lucid dream.

In the dream I actually switched characters during it, and I realized I switched it, but I still did not realize that it was a dream. Anyways there where like two sides (a good side and a bad side.. sorta like cops and robbers).. and at first I was the good guy and then i went into someone else and was on the bad side. Anyways We where at this scary looking house, and my other bad guy friends where with me. And I knew we had to go into the house so we didnt get caught. But the house was pretty creepy. So I said i do not want to go in there, so I decided to try and switch characters. I saw someone else and tried to 'be' him instead of who i was. Shortly after I tried that I thought to myself wait.. this is a dream! And Then I remembered to stay calm but it didnt work and I woke up shortly after.

Actually this is weird... when I woke up, I opened my physical eyes. And My eyes where half-way open, and I could see the dream in front of my closed eye, and see the waking state in front of my opened eyes. The dream then slowly faded away and I awokened with sleep paralysis.

This has happened in all my dreams, I realize that I am dreaming, and say 'wait, i am dreaming' or something similar and then i wake up..

Anyone have any suggestions on how to stay lucid?

Thanks