The universe sends us messages. When disaster strikes and the Universe sends us deeply unwanted challenges that take us to what feels like hell, we have to focus on love. Love and friendships are the only meaningful continuum. I woke up to the news that my old friends Jody Colvard and Declan Dunn had lost their beautiful house in Chico, so lovingly built on a ridge in Northern California, a stone's throw from Paradise, which also got wiped out by the fires. As well as losing their house, they lost their gorgeous dog and cat who were like their children. All the houses around were burned to the ground and their neighbour's burned too.

It reminds me of losing my daughter needlessly and my home in Lewes and all our possessions in an 8-foot flood. I remember waking up each day and then remembering that my nightmare was actually reality. I never knew how I, or any member of my family, would cope with it, but with the love and support of our friends and family, we somehow managed, taking one day at a time. The lessons we learned were that material possessions are far less important than health and love. I will never forget how loving and giving our friends and family were. We gave ourselves permission to grieve, and, eventually, created a parallel Universe in which to live with love and light.

Please take a moment to feel for all those people in disaster-struck areas today. Send them courage and love. And be proactive. Do something extraordinary for someone else today, to create a ripple of love around the world. Let us focus on what we can control.