The Symphony at 30,000 Feet: My Cross-Country Flight Revelation
What's The Big Deal??
- That moment when you wake up on a plane and see something MAGICAL 🌄✈️
- The American heartland looks like a giant geometric art piece from above
- Sometimes our scattered thoughts make the MOST sense during travel
- Why everyone should experience seeing the world from 30,000 feet
Intro
I just woke up mid-flight with my face pressed against the cold window of seat 36F. The passenger beside me had just lifted their window shade, and suddenly I was staring at a view that made my brain short-circuit in the best possible way. Flying from Boston to San Francisco, somewhere above Nebraska, I found myself completely mesmerized by what I was seeing — and struggling to put it into coherent thoughts.
The Patchwork Below
Have you ever really LOOKED at America from 30,000 feet? I mean really looked? The landscape transforms into this perfect geometric patchwork — countless fields arranged in precise squares and rectangles, creating patterns that no artist could design with such mathematical precision. Different shades of green, brown, and gold stretch to the horizon, evidence of countless farmers working their land.
What got me was spotting the tiny farmhouses standing completely alone, surrounded by nothing but open space for miles. I couldn't help wondering about the lives lived in these remote corners of the country — so utterly different from the compressed urban existences many of us know.
My Scattered-Brain Syndrome
"So one of my main issues with my personality is this scattered brain. My thoughts are not always coherent... it's hard to carefully explain what I'm feeling, what I'm seeing. Especially when I'm amazed by it."
This is me, trying to narrate a voice memo while staring out the plane window. And honestly? Maybe scattered thoughts are the most authentic response to something so vast. How could anyone maintain a single coherent thought when faced with the entirety of the American heartland spread out like a living map?
Between glimpses out the window, I'd been reading "No Bad Parts" by Richard Schwartz about internal family systems — how we all contain different "parts" within our personalities. It felt weirdly appropriate while looking at the landscape below: countless different communities and ecosystems, all part of one cohesive whole. (If you're curious about IFS, I wrote about how Internal Family Systems therapy changed my life in a previous article.)
Why This Matters
We spend our lives at ground level, focused on the immediate details right in front of us. But occasionally, whether through travel, art, or unexpected moments of clarity, we get lifted above our normal perspective. And it changes everything.
"It's important to expose yourself to new things, to see the world. That's how we all become better people. Because we know that your imagination is capped by what you've experienced."
This hit me hard as I recorded my jumbled thoughts. Our imaginations are literally limited by what we've experienced. And sometimes, all it takes is a window seat and an accidental awakening to expand what we can conceive.
The Not-So-Great Parts
I should probably mention: I'm not exactly a comfortable flyer. The cramped seats (even in 36F by the window), the dry air that makes your skin feel like paper, the overpriced everything. For a moment of zen like this, though? Completely worth it.
Final Thoughts
As we began our descent toward San Francisco, I felt this strange gratitude for this metal tube hurling through the sky. For all the complaints we have about modern air travel, it offers something our ancestors could never have imagined: the ability to see our world from above, to compress thousands of miles into hours, to literally rise above our limited perspectives.
I closed my eyes for a moment, trying to burn the image of that Nebraska patchwork into my memory. Tomorrow I'll be back on the ground, caught up in the minutiae of daily life. But hopefully, something of this scattered, beautiful symphony at 30,000 feet will remain.