The Most Powerful Question

Mar 16, 2026

My favorite question is simple: What’s the most powerful thing I can do right now?

There’s peace in the limitations of that question. It isn’t asking what the most powerful thing in the whole world. It’s not even asking what I could do if I were at my absolute best.

It asks about this moment.

Limiting the horizon to what’s already here acknowledges that this moment isn’t the same as other moments. It won’t be. It can’t be. And that’s good news. Different circumstances call for different responses.

On nights like tonight, I don’t need to come in like a caped superhero. Oh yeaahhhhhhh.

Right now, for example, I’m writing to you from my couch under fuzzy blankets with Scarlett, who just had her wisdom teeth yanked. In this moment, there is no more powerful thing I can do than be her mom: feed her sorbet and antibiotics, sit still, and watch women’s basketball.

And yet.

Last night I needed a break. I was going stir-crazy so I asked myself the question and got a different answer. I needed to get out of the house. So I left and went to the library (see below).

Same question. Different answer.

We’re conditioned to think power lives outside of us—in heroic bursts. We’re trained to forget that power takes many forms. No one tells us that pausing to listen to what’s needed and what’s available is powerful.

The truth is that power was never as boring as it looks in Marvel movies.

Power is a shapeshifter.

Sometimes it’s loud and raucous. It stands up, calls out, and takes names. But power also has a softer side. It can be nerdy. It might want you to go to bed early so you can wake up refreshed. It might ask you to put down your phone if you’re already in a bad mood.

Knowing myself, respecting my boundaries, and prioritizing what matters are lifelong learnings. Every choice brings me either closer to—or further from—my own power.

Tonight, sitting on the couch with this brave daughter of mine, I’m confident that I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be. Tomorrow I’ll ask the same question — and the answer will change.

If you’re up for a small experiment, try asking it yourself:

“What’s the most powerful thing I can do right now?”

I’d love to hear what you discover.

WHAT’S GIVING ME ENERGY AND HELPING ME FEEL MORE ALIVE THIS WEEK:

#1. Night In The Library

March 14 is Pi Day and to celebrate this mathematical anomaly, the Brooklyn Central Library hosts a night of ideas. This is one of my all time favorite events. Every 30 minutes or so, fresh people take the mic in different areas of the library to share what they know. This year was particularly well-attended and the line-up was pretty banging. Some of my faves? Making haikus about Pi, sewing?, a conversation about space that called stars “big boys.” And on my way out? As luck would have it — therapy dogs!

#2. The different emotions on tap for this year’s International Women’s Day

For International Women’s Day, I went to two very different events in NYC. One was in front of Trump Tower. Along 5th Avenue, we chanted while taxi drivers honked and tourists took pictures. When it wound down, I hustled uptown to the next. In Central Park, a group of almost all women laid flowers in a spiral, made offerings of gratitude for earth and sky. At the end of the day, I was exhausted. And also liberated.

So many different people and emotions. So many different ways to mark a moment and feel the power of a collective breath.

I watched as my frustration became anger, then gratitude, and finally resolve. There is a way out of this — but we’re going to have to feel the feelings and then grab a spoon, and dig the tunnel.