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More Light — A Solstice Story from One Humanity Lab
At the winter solstice, when the light reaches its deepest pause, something ancient becomes available to us again. Not urgency. Not resolution. But remembering.
A Letter from the Threshold
Dear Friends of One Humanity Lab,
As we approach the winter solstice — the moment when the light reaches its deepest pause — I wanted to begin by sending a simple greeting: may the returning light meet you gently, wherever you are.
At this time something ancient becomes available to us again. Not urgency. Not resolution. But remembering.
The solstice does not ask us to rush the return of the light. It asks us to stay long enough with the dark to sense what is quietly gathering there — what has been waiting, what has been reorganizing itself beneath the surface of our lives and our organizations.
This letter is written from that place.
Every year since I moved here eighteen years ago, I have written a winter solstice story. Each year is different — always moved by a pulse that calls me back into being. Growing up in Albania, solstice story time was sacred, especially with my grandparents. Those evenings taught me something I still trust: story is what brings people together. And when we truly see each other, we begin to see beyond difference and into our shared humanity.
What follows is not a traditional update, but a story told in three movements.
  1. The first is a personal story — about light, the heart, and a moment of remembering that opened a deeper inquiry into how we lead and live.
  1. The second is a story of form — how that inquiry gradually asked to become something shared, and how One Humanity Lab came into being as a living laboratory for leadership, learning, and coherence.
  1. The third is a story of emergence — what has taken shape this year through community, programs, partnerships, and the many relationships that are now carrying this work forward.
Some of you have been walking with One Humanity Lab for years. Others are arriving for the first time — through the coaching community, CEPL's broader network, research, conversations, social media, or perhaps through an inner sensing that the way we lead, learn, and live is ready for something more whole.
Wherever you are arriving from, you are warmly welcomed.
I invite you to read this slowly, in the spirit of the season. And if something in these stories resonates — a word, a question, a frequency — I invite you to stay connected, share the work, and explore the many ways to walk with us in the year ahead.
May the returning light bring clarity, coherence, and a deeper remembering of what matters most.
Story One
When Light Returns

There was a season in my life when light had felt strangely distant. I was moving through a period of deep healing — outwardly functional, inwardly dimmed. I could not think my way back to clarity. Whatever was needed had to arrive differently.

One afternoon, my son Hadrian — just three years old — noticed a thin thread of sunlight streaming through the window and landing on the floor. With complete seriousness, he followed it with his hands, tracing its movement as it shifted across the room. Time slowed — a delight and a curiosity that felt like a deep remembering. A knowing that life is so precious, and that so much can be witnessed in one small glimpse of a moment. It felt like a shift — a re-entry into a new form of life. Light as Coherence Made Visible That observation revealed something essential: light can be witnessed in the most ordinary moments, and it takes only a small crack to see new possibilities. Light is not only illumination. It is coherence made visible. It is what happens when the heart's original energy returns to center and begins to organize our being from the inside out. And over time, I began to realize something else: light is not only something we see — it is something we receive. A tone. A signal. A subtle organizing force. In that sense, light carries a kind of frequency — and it can shift our inner state before it ever shifts our thoughts. That moment later became a small book I called Baby Light, an inquiry about our quality of light and the curiosity of its source. That formed the this 2-part question that has followed me ever since: What does the field of my heart look like? And what happens when we create and lead from that place? Because the heart, in my experience, is not merely where we feel. It is where we know and witness our own light — where we become and where we remember and return over and over to meet our deepest essence. It is the ground of love and connection, personal and collective agency, and authentic leadership. With this inquiry living in my system, I began to notice a pattern. The Heart as Center Again and again, when people feel truly connected — not conceptually, but viscerally — they reference the heart. This was also an important finding in my dissertation: not as a metaphor, but as a felt center — a place of coherence, a ground of knowing. An Organ of Perception I've explored this more fully through Leadership Apothecary and another short fairytale book where I reflect at length on the heart as an organ of perception and leadership intelligence. Compassion with Clarity The heart, as I have come to understand, is not opposed to rigor or clarity. It is what makes them possible. When the heart is coherent, leadership becomes grounded. Decisions become cleaner. Authority becomes less performative and more trustworthy.

From the Heart to Form

The more I listened, the more I realized that what had begun as personal healing was also a collective sensing. The same fragmentation I had felt inwardly was showing up everywhere — in leadership cultures driven by urgency rather than coherence, in learning systems optimized for performance rather than presence, in institutions struggling to respond to complexity with tools designed for simpler times. The heart, it seemed, was not only asking to be remembered in individuals. It was asking to be remembered in collective systems. Besides that all is an interconnected thread of awareness, yet with boundries and individuation which makes for our unique gifts and talents in the world. Slowly, almost reluctantly, the inquiry turned outward. What would it mean to design leadership and learning environments that could actually hold this deeper coherence? What would it require to bring ways of knowing that live in the body, the field, and the relational space into education and organizations — without diluting them and in full integrity? This was the moment when an inner question became a shared responsibility. When listening became imagination. When healing began to ask for form. And that is where the next story begins.

Story Two
A Forming Thread of Light

One Humanity Lab is a manifestation of my heart's calling, a thread of light forming from that place.

Before One Humanity Lab had its current shape, it lived as a vision I called the Global Consciousness Initiative*. I shared this vision years ago with Jim Robinson, who at the time was Director of the George Washington University Center for Excellence in Public Leadership — not as something ready to launch, but as a way of naming what I sensed was missing in leadership and education. Jim held this vision with care. He understood both the longing behind it and the importance of timing, often more clearly than I did. I could see it so vividly and wanted to bring it into form; he helped me trust that readiness matters. The vision was simple and 'seemingly' radical. What if leadership development were grounded not only in skills and competencies, but in consciousness itself? What if learning environments cultivated coherence — within individuals, across systems, and between humans and the living world? What if leadership education honored multiple ways of knowing — cognitive, relational, somatic, intuitive, ecological — rather than privileging only one? I could feel the truth of the vision — and I could also feel it was ahead of what the system could hold. So I listened. Rather than forcing the idea into existence, I asked a different question: What is ready now? What can move first? The answer was coaching education — a form of coaching grounded in ecocentrism, designed not only for individual growth, but for the inner development required to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals: an ethic of care rooted in One Humanity and One Shared Responsibility, moving beyond anthropocentrism and human utilitarianism toward an ontology of connection and the consciousness shift needed for meaningful systems change. Coaching became the first living expression of the larger vision. It offered a way to work with a wholeness-based way of learning, weaving in multiple ways of knowing. It allowed inner development to be practiced in human-scale ways — through presence, inquiry, embodiment, and relationship. It met people where they were. And it worked, and it still works. During this time, the Lab functioned as a source-energy space — holding the deeper vision quietly, waiting for the conditions that would allow it to come into fuller blossom. With the establishment of the One Humanity Leadership Coaching program (formerly e-Co Leadership Coaching), One Humanity Lab was formally established as a companion learning space — even though much of its deeper purpose had not yet fully surfaced. The vision did not disappear. It waited. It lived in practice, in writing, in research, and in my doctoral work exploring more-than-human ways of knowing and the conditions under which people experience genuine connection and coherence. It lived in the growing recognition that many of our leadership challenges were not technical problems, but crises of epistemic separation. Separation between body and mind, human and non-human, materialism and spirituality, and more. And then, this year, the timing was right. *The Global Consciousness initiative also built on another path which became the Global Consciousness Institute, a beautiful collaboration with an amazing team of human beings.

Right Timing

As I completed my doctoral work and stepped into my role as Director of Learning Innovation and Strategic Growth at CEPL — in a broader landscape marked by deep shifts in government, education, and the workplace — new support emerged. I am deeply grateful for the colleagues and partners who stepped in to help hold and strengthen what was coming into form, including Dr. Natalie Houghtby-Haddon, Dr. Liesl Riddle, Dr. Bonnie Buckner, Betsy Sanders, the CEPL team, and the Founding Fellows of One Humanity Lab. The question was no longer whether the original vision mattered. The question became how it wanted to live now. And so, the present mission of the One Humanity Lab is a global learning and innovation hub where leaders, coaches, educators, artists, and changemakers come together to cultivate whole-person, whole-being, and whole-system leadership, activate inner development, elevate global consciousness, and awaken a felt sense of connection to self, others, Earth, and the greater web of life. What Is the Mission of One Humanity Lab? (Part 1) As this work continues to take form, I hold it in stewardship. Growth here is not only about momentum, but about discernment — sensing what is aligned, what needs time, and what does not belong. This has cultivated a certain form for now, unique to this moment in time that is still emerging, opening the space for the third story.

Story Three
Light in Motion

And so, this year, what came to light in visible form were several activations. What has been forming is not simply a set of offerings, but a field — one that holds space for learning, leadership, and transformation to unfold at the pace of lived experience. A place where effectiveness and depth are not in tension, and where imagination is treated as a serious capacity for change.

Building the Architecture My energy has been significantly invested in creating the structure and architecture of the Lab — guided by a simple philosophy of the Field of Dreams that I've long held: if you build, they will come. I truly hold that seed in my heart. Holding the Vision And by a deeper commitment to hold the vision of a world where leadership and learning are rooted in wholeness, healing, and connectedness — where people, communities, and organizations live at One with themselves, each other, the Earth, and the greater web of life. Creating Space I have spent a lot of time connecting with people, refining, revising, exploring possibilities, cohering resources, and creating space — and the work continues. Highlights from This Year One Humanity Leadership Coaching We shifted the name of the coaching program from e-Co Leadership Coaching to One Humanity Leadership Coaching, and Dr. Bonnie Buckner stepped in to lead the program. The Emerging Coach Series continues to grow within this ecosystem, and so do alumni connections — alongside a 2-day collaboration with Give2Give Foundation supporting training on neuroscience and coaching. Integration Across Programs We started to integrate more intentionally a wholeness-based leadership component in the various programs at the GW CEPL, including the Program of Excellence in Municipal Management, the Youth Development Professional Certification, as well as introducing the ideas and evolution with CEPL's senior fellows as part of the strategic planning process, as well as presenting at the GW CPS's all-hands meeting. One Humanity Podcast The One Humanity Podcast is closing its third season, graciously guest-hosted by Mia Cellucci and Pauline de Castelnau, who have also helped build a connective tissue baseline within the coaching alumni community. Check our latest episode HERE. Founding Fellows Gathering The One Humanity Founding Fellows' first gathering took place — an extraordinary group of leaders who have said yes to helping shape the Lab's signature projects. Three Emerging Projects Accelerator An Accelerator for changemakers embedded in the fabric of their communities who contribute to economic vibrancy and community vitality Executive Fellows Program An Executive Fellows Program for C-suite leaders seeking a strategic pause, working on a heart project, and building their thought leadership Youth Fellowship A Youth Fellowship for 18–22-year-olds inviting the quality of a "gap year" to connect with their path and reimagine the future of education. The Lab joined the global Inner Development Goals community and became an IDG Hub in November., and a group of us attended the IDG Summit in Stockholm, Sweden. None of this happened in straight lines. All of it happened through relationship. Announcements for 2026 And now, as the solstice turns, more is preparing to emerge: a shared community platform with a myriad of opportunities for connecting and learning; a white paper articulating One Humanity Lab's Living Theory of Transformation (to be shared in January 2026); deeper partnerships; and new pathways for learning, contribution, and collective coherence. At the heart of the Lab's philosophy is a simple 'formula' articulation of transformation: O→Ψ(n⋅S⋅N)=E→1 Leadership emerges when our original essence (O) moves through the soul's purpose (Ψ), shaped by experience (n), animated by spirit (S), and guided by higher wisdom (N), into embodied action (E) that serves the wholeness of life (1). This is also where frequency comes in again — because the Lab, in many ways, is a practice ground for a new frequency of wholeness: coherence that can be felt, cultivated, and carried into the systems we serve.

An Invitation
Returning to Light
If this story resonates, there are ways to walk with us.
Stay connected. Share the work. Join our learning spaces. Help us build bridges — to organizations, partners, and funders who understand that deep transformation requires both vision and resources.
And as we stand at the solstice threshold — this quiet turning of the year — I want to offer one simple practice: stay close to the light. Not the kind that demands performance or certainty, but the kind that returns gradually, almost imperceptibly, and yet changes everything.
In the spirit of that returning, I'm sharing a short companion page of imaginative questions on light and the heart — a small doorway for reflection you can return to over the coming days. You can find it here:

Imaginative Questions on Light & the Heart

What color does the light carry when you feel most like yourself Where does light land in your body when you finally exhale? If your heart had a weather pattern today, what would the sky look like? What kind of light do you move toward when no one is watching? If coherence had a temperature, how would it feel in your chest? What sound does your heart make when it recognizes truth? What part of your heart is asking for shade rather than brightness? If your inner light had a rhythm, what would it be syncing with right now? What does alignment feel like just before you name it? Where does your heart soften when things finally come into right relationship? If your presence carried a frequency, how would others experience it in the room? What does your heart remember that your mind keeps revising? If light could organize your next step, where would it begin? What part of your leadership glows quietly, without needing to be seen? What kind of light do you bring into moments of uncertainty? Where does clarity arrive first — as warmth, pressure, stillness, or release? If wholeness had a pulse, how close are you to feeling it? What is the light asking you to trust before it asks you to act? Imaginative Questions for the Solstice What does the darkest day of the year ask you to release? What kind of light feels possible now — not forced, not rushed? Where in your body do you feel the pause before something begins again? If the returning light had a pace, how slowly would it move? What wants to rest rather than resolve? What has been reorganizing itself beneath the surface of your life? Where does stillness feel like preparation rather than absence? What does your heart recognize when the world grows quiet? If this moment were a threshold, what would you carry across it? What kind of light does your heart trust most — dawn, fire, ember, or glow? Where do you feel a soft yes beginning to form? What does the light illuminate when urgency loosens its grip? What wants more darkness in order to ripen? Where does coherence feel closer than clarity? What part of you is already turning toward the light? What are you no longer meant to push? What is ready to emerge simply because you stayed? As the days begin to lengthen, what does the light ask you to remember?

So my wish for you is for the returning of the light to bring clarity, coherence, and a deeper remembering of what matters most for you. May it bring a new frequency of wholeness — one you can feel in your body, trust in your heart, and carry into your relationships and work.
The days are lengthening. May you too lengthen your presence towards…
More light…
Not as brightness. As orientation. As frequency. As the remembering of the heart made visible.
With love and light,

Dr. Ina Gjikondi
Founder & Director, One Humanity Lab
Director, Learning Innovation & Strategic Growth
GW Center for Excellence in Public Leadership
[email protected]