A series of failed experiences

On today's lucid dream, i tried various things I read in forums. Almost all of them failed. To make it short:
-Ask dream characters: "Why are you here?"
I asked various characters but I only had answer like: "I don't know." or "Don't bother me."
-Say: "Show me something spectacular." to see what happens
I do this about 5 times, but nothing. The last time i closed my eyes for one second and opened. Nothing.
-Fly into space
I'm flying backwards. I focus on continuing to fly and start to do the zoom technique that i've posted in this forum, but i just go up about a little.
-Find a mystical city
I decide to look for Atlantis. I'm flying over the sea. I only see the imense sea for some time and nothing else. I give up.
-Breathe in water
I dive into the sea but I don't go very deep, just about 5 feet. But I can breathe in water. At last, an experience that worked.

Maybe the unconscious part of your mind was busy with other things at the time; it does have rather a lot to look after.

I have certainly also had failed experiences (actually, probably more failures than outright successes), and although I'm sure many of them were due to lack of expertice (I haven't had all that many lucids yet), some of them may have been due to other things (like the unconscious being busy with regulation of body temperature, or digestion, or gradually awakening the body, or ...or ... or). Maybe the best advice is simply to expect, that whatever you undertake will actually work ...

Well when it comes to dream control there are a few ways to control it.

expectation
The one you are using is expectation, not the most reliable unless you can suppress all other expectation. You just do one action expecting a certain reaction.

There is no spoon
You know that everything is fake and part of your mind, so you control everything with a steel rod. :)

You can use both, or one. No matter what you do "without control" you are using expectation, going out to sea and trying to find Atlantis for instance, you do one action and expect a reaction. When you are over the sea you can either expect to see it surfacing, or press a button that makes it surface (the button is in your pocket). The other form would be that none of it is real and you assert your will and make it appear, not sure how to explain that more. What I like to do is a little different, but it is ignoring what I already see and convince myself that I am already at my destination. Look down at the water and think "so that is Atlantis!" You just imagine it there if you wish, maybe close your eyes if you can't get enough imagination juices running (I need to drink imagination juice, that would be a trippy dream!).

Hope this helps. :P there are other ways to control a dream, but I think that they are all combinations of these two.

Great tips, BrandonBoss. Thanks. I will try that, for sure.

I suspect that these reactions are already consolidated by the psyche, simply because of how natural this concomitant antagonism seems to arise. Unfortunately, expectation is largely an instinctual, hardened response that is even harder to control whenever your brain is only half-compliant to your motives, with the hallucinations being generated on auto-pilot. Doubt can sometimes bring success, while confidence can sometimes bring failure. Trust me, there is more than just expectation involved. The question is: do you control your brain, or does your brain control you? :cheeky:

You have to realize that your brain does not innately use oneiric processes to fulfil your fantasies. If it did, that would be dangerously maladaptive, providing you with a false sense of reward. Think about it.

It may help to avoid determining the end of what your objectives are; otherwise, the undertaking will become protracted, while never being completely resolved.