Have you separated yourself from daytime influences? (Horror films, death metal music, the news, internet conspiracy theories, biblical apocolyptics, etc....)

What are your interests?

When I was younger, I went through a phase where I was dream journaling. My goal was to have vivid dreams and take control of them for fun and pleasure. Lucid Dreaming is what it is called. But one big difference I hear you saying is, you have no control over the situation.

One thing you can try is daily exercises of asserting your control:

Open the refrigerator, look at the food and say, "I choose to go outside". Then close the refrigerator door and promptly go outside. Look at the sky and say "I did it". Feel the peace and tranquility! Say "I did it!" again.

I can think of a hundred examples of this. But the main objective is to take control by interrupting a certain task by YOUR CHOICE and promptly going outside and finding peace and tranquility.

When you program your mind to do this, you will likely be able to do this in our dreams too.

If you are religious, I HIGHLY recommend including God in the tranquility. If you do this, you can give Him thanks for providing the sanctuary of the tranquil outdoors. This gives even more power to your ability to choose later, when you are dreaming.