E136 Karen Redman Spirituality Common Ground

Let’s Be Well Together Podcast - Episode 136
Date: September 3, 2024

Participants: Sheila Webster, Riley Thompson and John Webster
Guest: Karen Redman

Start Times and Segments:

[0:00:16] What’s On Your Mind: Sheila and Riley both travelled to Prague, and both loved the city. They reminisce and exchange stories about their experiences.

[0:12:54] Expanding Minds Interview: [Spiritual Wellness] Karen Redman is Regional Chair of Waterloo Region. Spiritual beliefs are important to her. Karen was raised in the Christian tradition. She has always felt that her religion is deeply personal. She meets people with different backgrounds and beliefs. Being an elected representative, she has become familiar with other faith traditions. There’s so much that unites us. There’s so much commonality between different religions. People want to be good to each other. They want to practice their faith and allow space for other people too. Karen wishes, especially post-pandemic, that we would all give other people the benefit of the doubt. We are in an inflationary period. People are worried about their jobs, their finances and their families. It helps to give people the benefit of the doubt, whether you agree or disagree with them. Her hope is that we are a bit more generous with people when we’re talking about topics, rather than seeing everything as black and white.

[0:29:26] Flipside of the Coin: Sheila was inspired by an article about four reasons why couples should travel together. They are happier in their relationships. Women are less stressed. Many couples have more “love” in one week than in eight weeks when not travelling. Almost all who travel regularly feel closer in their relationship.

Quotes and Take-Aways:

Karen – Spirituality is part of my life. I was raised in the Christian tradition. I have always felt that my religion is deeply personal.

Karen – In politics as well as life, you need to examine and do the best things for the right reasons. I’ve tried to do that in my personal life and I’ve tried to do that in politics.

Karen – Being an elected representative since I was 36, which goes back a while, has allowed me the ability to be familiar with other faith traditions. I’ve gone to places of worship sometimes after disasters or sometimes acts of hate. The community has been very good at cleaving together to say that we all want to support each other.

Karen – When I’ve been invited into other faith communities, I realize that there is so much more that unites us and there’s so much more commonality between different religions.

Karen – In my experience, people want to be good to each other. They want to practice their faith and allow space for other people too.

Karen – There has been a rise of hate speech and acts of hate in our community. That’s not who we are collectively, or as individual faith communities.

Karen – I really wish, especially post-pandemic, that we would all give other people the benefit of the doubt. We are in an inflationary period. My sense is that people are cranky. Some of them are worried about their jobs, their finances and their family, so give people the benefit of the doubt when you either agree or disagree with them. I don’t think we do that enough. I hope that we would be a little bit more generous with people when we’re talking about topics, rather than seeing everything as black and white.

Guest Information: Karen Redman is Regional Chair of the Waterloo Region, which is a busy and thriving Region. She’s represented Kitchener on the board of education, municipal government and in Canada's Parliament for 20 years. She’s committed to making a personal contribution to a better quality of life for her family, her community and Canada as a whole. She has a Master's degree in Political Science, as well as an Honours Bachelor's degree in English. She’s the recipient of the Queen’s Jubilee Medal and the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee medal. She’s married to Warren. They have 4 adult children and they love spending time with their Westy named Roxy.

Connect with Let’s Be Well Together Podcast:
website: https://letsbewelltogether.com
Follow our Instagram account: @lets.be.well.together use hashtag #letsbewelltogetherpodcast
Provide input on Instagram using hashtag #letsbewelltogetherinput

Thanks for joining us,
(-(-_(-_-)_-)-)   Your wellness check-in team
John, Sammy, Cameron, Sheila, Elise, Isabelle, Noura, Julie and Riley