A Year to Celebrate and What's Coming Next!

joankoskela
Dec 15
4 min read

As 2025 draws to a close, I find myself reflecting with deep gratitude on why I love being the Australian ambassador for Living Wisdom. Year after year, what fuels my passion is seeing lives improve as people strengthen their relationships, parenting, work, ministry, and their physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being. For me, this work is extremely meaningful -because wisdom didn’t just inform my life, it transformed it.

Acquiring wisdom was truly transformative for me. It enabled me to comprehend why many of my earnest efforts weren't yielding the desired results. Wisdom became the missing piece of the puzzle.

Nowadays, the pursuit of wisdom is uncommon - yet it's what empowers us to live well. That's why, at Living Wisdom in Australia and New Zealand, we're dedicated to providing meaningful opportunities for you to grow, enhance your skills, deepen your self-understanding, and remove the barriers that hold you back.

Wisdom is the practical application of the knowledge you already possess - and the insights you're still uncovering. We're here to support you every step of the way.

2025 Highlights

The many faces of OWL

I hope you've enjoyed seeing OWL develop and evolve through our workshops and resources. OWL is becoming a favourite, and I want to express my gratitude to my media team in Hamilton for their fantastic support and ideas.

4 Online Workshops

I thoroughly enjoyed providing the online workshops for you this year. We explored several crucial topics:

1. Turning Your Dreams into Reality - Goal Setting

2. Beating Anxiety for Good

3. The Anger Solution

4. Running on Empty? Burnout and Enthusiasm

All of these are now available in my online shop: https://www.livingwisdom.com.au/shop Have you begun your Living Wisdom workshop collection yet? The workshops are easy to watch and filled with practical insights and tools, making them worth revisiting repeatedly.

Coming up in 2026

Starting in February - 4 New Online Workshops

The workshops in 2026 will focus on building better relationships. You can't escape being in a relationship, unless you go and live on a desert island! Why not make 2026 the year that you intentionally work on improvements to bring the best out of your relationships and with each other? It is possible to have harmonious and incredibly fulfilling relationships, and I will give you some powerful top tips on how to do that. I am excited to offer you these Online Workshops and hope to see you there - now is the time to Save the Dates!

1. Monday 16 February – Negotiation for Everyday Life – Mastering Win-Win Agreements

and Shared Power.

2. Monday 11 May – The Power of Wise Vulnerability – for Stronger, Safer Relationships

3. Monday 10 August - Escape the Offence Trap – and Sabotage-Proof your Relationships

4. Monday 2 November - How to Handle Difficult People - from Conflict to Connection

Also, check out David and Rosemary Riddell's - Living Wisdom NZ Calendar for training in Nelson, NZ.

Counselling - Availability and Price Adjustment

In response to the growing demand, I have chosen to adjust my fees to align with current rates for counselling and supervision services.

Starting from the 1st of January, my Counselling fee will increase from $120 to $135, and the Supervision/Ministry fee will go up from $100 to $120.

There are periods throughout the year when securing an appointment with me can be challenging. To prevent this, I recommend booking multiple appointments in advance once you decide that my services meet your needs. As I often say, it's easier to cancel an appointment than to secure one.

Living Wisdom Shop - New Resources coming

If you haven't visited our shop recently, you might be missing out on some amazing new resources for adults, teens, and children. Click on the Jungle image to explore!

We're thrilled to announce a very special project. Over the past several months, one of our Living Wisdom students, Joel Schrumpf, my granddaughter Olive, and I have been working on a captivating new children's book. Joel was inspired by his experiences in Africa and proposed writing stories based on the 10 My Life Rulz concepts—narrated through our favourite Jungle animals. We embraced the idea, and after much effort, it's almost ready for you to enjoy.

This book will be a wonderful resource for any home and would be a great addition to a faith-based school library or your homeschooling favourites shelf.

Coming soon - Jungle of Belonging.

My Life Rulz in Schools

I am thrilled that we are just a few months away from the major launch of MY LIFE RULZ IN SCHOOLS. Over the years, I have collaborated with numerous teachers, parents, and schools to develop a comprehensive emotional and social health curriculum tailored for faith-based schools and homeschoolers. To my knowledge, it is the only program that addresses a child's journey from their first to last day at school from a Biblical perspective. This program is grounded in the My Life Rulz concepts, integrated with The Living Wisdom Manual for Life and Counselling Skills, and the Wisdom 101 book for teens.

I am extremely thankful to everyone who has supported this project, especially those who helped get it started and completed much of the initial work. My fantastic media team is developing a website that will provide easy access, purchasing, and updates. It's going to be AMAZING and will be an ongoing work in progress as the world and society change.

Stay tuned.