I wanted to illustrate what letting go of the pain of our pasts might look like. Opening her umbrella in an act of graceful surrender, she releases the sorrows and sadness that had once roosted in her heart. The birds, which represent her solidified grief, cast no shadow as they are illusory in nature to the outside world, though very real to her. Such is it also with guilt and regret. We cannot evolve until we acknowledge and let go of that which binds us to the past. Only then will there be room in our lives to experience a new reality.