my lucid "messes"

Normally when I dream, the dream is a completely realistic representation of the real world, and everything works exactly as one would expect it to. This causes some problems in distinguishing the real world from my dream world, but occasionally I am completely aware that I am dreaming, and I can change things like a lucid dream, but as I change things, the world makes less and less sense. It takes a while for it to kick in, but I usually change things the way I want to and I am capable of doing some very empowering things. Eventually, I lose control of the situation, and the laws of physics basically break down. Usually objects look twisted and bizarre, gravity stops pulling things to the ground, and time accelerates until I wake up from confusion, or slows to a complete stop, and then I wake up.

Anything I can do to control my universe without exploding it?

perhaps that is a sign that you are waking up and your dream world is de-materializing and is becoming unstable? Does this all happen quickly or slowly? Try sitting down and rub your hands against the ground or against eachother and emphasize on the feeling or concentrate on a detail in your dream. That is of course if your dream fades quickly.

or if it happens slowly then i suggest going into or creating another dream world by either spinning or using other means via mirrors or portals.