Becoming aware of others grief can be really helpful to those of us who are grieving. Grief can be so lonely. In many cultures, we are told that grief is private, something to be concealed. We aren’t supposed to grieve openly, or around others, for fear of making them feel uncomfortable. We’re to pretend as if we’re fine, that all will be fine. Despite the world crashing down around us, literally or figuratively. We’re told to move forward, get on with it. Buck up, get through.

Grief awareness is fairly new. Social media has opened up avenues for those of us to connect and lean into our grief without shame, guilt or fear of making others uncomfortable. But it is also freeing - freedom to find joy and happiness. Freedom to talk about our mothers, remember them and celebrate them.

Understanding others’ grief helps to put ours into context. It helps us understand that we’re so much more alike than we are different. That our grief is a force of good in the world, that it connects us to each other. Our experiences of grief, particularly when we lose our mothers, is that our experiences, despite culture, language and geography, are so strikingly similar in so many ways. That is the transformational power of our grief.