New feathers start out as little nubbins below the existing feathers, beginning to push out the old ones. Birds help the process by preening. In a similar vein, I used to think that for us the process of letting go of old things, beliefs, traumas, attitudes, and such was the most important thing a person could do to be able to fully embrace life, to let new “feathers” replace the old.
But our new “feathers” don’t always just grow in by themselves. So just as important as letting go is letting in, welcoming the the unexpected, perhaps overwhelming and frightening new and bigger things, especially the beauty of being alive.