When my mother died, and I would do my errands and struggle with how to answer the numerous "how are you's" flipped around without any desire to know, I thought of marketing a black armband that people could wear when they were sad. People used to wear black for a year or longer after someone died. That was a minimum. Now, we are expected to pick up after a week and begin again.
Someone at the Sensory Awareness workshop spoke of how as his heart opened, it hurt. Most of us have been raised to walk away from heart-break. Perhaps we can give it permission. I have some quotes I place here periodically around grieving. I'll see if I can find them again. We can give ourselves permission to grieve.