Olivia Chow said she sees her husband Jack Layton in every kind and generous deed performed by those around her.

Layton lost his battle to cancer last month after temporarily stepping down earlier this summer as leader of the New Democrat Party.

His death sent many across the country into a period of mourning, with tens of thousands paying their respects in Ottawa, where his body was lying in state, and then in Toronto, where it was lying in repose before a state funeral.

Thousands of mourners wrote messages of support in downtown Toronto's Nathan Philip Square in a chalk tribute that took up much of the concrete park and many across the country expressed their condolences.

Chow told CTV's Canada AM the outpouring of grief has been accompanied by an overwhelming show of support for her family.

"It feels like a big warm blanket covering me with love and support, and it's just wonderful, it proves Jack is right to be optimistic," Chow said.

"He believes in the goodness in people and he feels if you touch and connect with that goodness, some call it love, others call it hope, then people will respond... and the outpouring is affirmation of that belief."

Chow, who recently said she will not try to succeed her husband as leader of the Official Opposition, said it was especially difficult to cope in the first few days after Layton died.

Eventually she sought advice from others who had gone through similar experiences and turned to coping mechanisms such as swimming and running, and putting her family's affairs in order, to help her deal with her grief.

"There's also that belief that Jack and I both shared that some of the things we share, some of the values we have, are eternal, like love, like hope for the future, like believing that when we come together we can make things happen, we can change the world," Chow said.

"Those kinds of things help me deal with not being able to spend more time with him, dealing with his death."

Chow said Layton's legacy is the belief, as he wrote in the final line of his farewell letter to Canadians, that optimism is better than despair, and that politics doesn't have to be a divisive, cynical business.

"Jack kept talking about working together no matter where you come from, and in order to work together you have to trust each other whether it's in life, in work, in personal life, or in politics," she said.

Layton will live on through all those who were inspired by his life, Chow said.

"Every time I see an act of kindness or generosity I think ah, his legacy lives on in action, so it makes it a lot easier."