It's true... if you don't look, that sometimes you absolutely do find. That's how I had an astral extraterrestrial encounter. I didn't even realize I was in the midst of an alien, until I googled the experience after the fact.

But I'm also finding (in my own experience) that I can look, just without expectation of what I'll find.

In that way, I've also encountered fairies of different types. I don't go looking for Tinkerbell, I just put out my intention and allow the being to be itself.