Originally posted by Dangeruss
you just have to be concious of what the dream is telling you. This morning I was lucid and following a group of people i knew having a conversation. Since I was interested I kept following even after I became lucid, but I used my mind to open doors, jumped huge distances, and ran really fast in the process. I find if I use lucidity to fly away from a situation which i feel is important, the dream slaps me on the wrist by rewinding to the important part and losing some realism. Just remember to be polite. Let the current plot finish and then wander off, so that your mind isn't suddenly pried away from something it wanted you to see.
I really think there's something to that. In my last lucid, I kept trying to do all this superhuman stuff, but no matter what I did and no matter how much I manipulated the dream, I kept vanishing from scenes and appearing at some apartment complex. I think the constant trying hard to do things might have had something to do with the relatively low quality of the dream outside of doing those extreme things, all of which I could only make last a few seconds each. The atmosphere seemed less deep and intense.

I have had great lucids where I was willing myself to do things, but I think the more effortless the trying is, the better the quality is. For example, I went back in time to Woodstock and watched Jefferson Airplane perform one time. I thought with ease about appearing at Woodstock, and then all I did was watch the performance. The concert event was totally passive on my part, and it was extremely intense. I wasn't trying to do anything except absorb the situation. I am not totally sure what the connection is, but there seems to be a correlation. Maybe not.