Randi Ainsworth Weight

My Personal Life Philosophy

How do you sum up what you believe in, what you base your life on, in
four simple pages? The task seems impossible, but I will do my best to tell you
why Humanity, Family, and Spirituality are some of the values that keep me
going in my daily life.
First we have Humanity. (1) Websters online Dictionary defines
Humanity as the quality of being humane; kindness, benevolence. This seems
pretty simple right? Treat others how you want to be treated. Be kind to
others. It shouldnt be that difficult. But as we look around todays world, it is
apparently a much harder concept than we could ever have imagined.
My husband constantly reminds me that he knew after two dates with
me he wanted to marry me, because I generally care about everybody (usually
WAY more than I should). At the time his sister who I had never met was going
through a divorce, so I called her up and took her to dinner, and we talked for 4
hours about what she needed to do (I am a paralegal and was able to answer
most of her questions.) That is the most fulfilling thing I can imagine, serving
other people. We are the best of friends now, and all it took was the courage to
call her and ask her to dinner.

Another humane thing that I hold dear to my heart, that is probably silly
to a lot of people, is that we rescued my pit-bull from the Humane Society five
years ago. I know some people think it is so trivial, but it helped define me. I
was brainwashed into believing pit-bulls were bad dogs, and scary. Not so. We
gave Gilly a second chance at life, and it was the greatest decision I ever made.
Next we have Family. My family most definitely defines who I am with
one word: Crazy. Its not the bad crazy, its the good crazy. My husbands
family things we are crazy because as often as we can we get together, just to
lay around and talk. I try to go over to my parents house at least once a week
and just have kind of a therapy session with my dad, its the highlight of my
week, and I hope my kids do the same.
I remember as a young girl, my sister and I would fight constantly.
Saying and doing hurtful things to each other. My dad would always taunt us
saying youre gonna be best friends one day. We would look and each other
with scowls on our faces and say EWWW NO WAY!. It make have taken 15
years, but she is my best friend. I think Margaret Mead said it best (2) Sister
is probably the most competitive relationship in the family, but once the sisters
are grown, it becomes the strongest relationship

My relationship with all my siblings has been strengthened over the last
year. My older brother, Jarron, has been having trial after trial. He was
diagnosed with testicular cancer in June of last year, his little boy was born in
July, and immediately after, he underwent surgery to remove one of his
testicles and started radiation treatments that made him beyond sick. Once
the radiation treatments were over, we were given the best news ever: the
cancer was gone, and there was a 99.9% chance it was never coming back.
Woo-hoo!! Finally in about October he started feeling human again. Then in
December he started having these spells where he would randomly lose
consciousness and quit breathing for several seconds, then just snap out of it
like nothing happened. No warning or anything, just out cold. This made it
illegal for him to drive, and impossible for him to work. Fast forward to
January 11th of this year, we had just finished a family dinner and he had
passed out (still breathing)for about 10 minutes (which his wife said was the
new norm and they would leave when he woke up) we thought nothing of it
and went home. Right when we walked in the door we got a text from my dad
saying he had a seizure and the paramedics couldnt wake him up long enough
to walk to the ambulance so they had to carry him and rush him to the ER.
He had 3 more seizures that night. Nobody knows why it is happening, but he
still has 2-4 seizures every night in his sleep. As siblings we have been able to

work together to coordinate schedules so he is never home alone, and the kids
are always taken care of when his wife has to work. This brings me to my next
life value: Spirituality.
Spirituality is something I hold very near and dear to my heart. I am of
the LDS faith which bases our lives on family, and the belief/knowledge we
have of the eternal family, meaning we can be with our families in the eternities
if we live worthy. As I was doing a little bit of research on spirituality, and the
differences between that and religion, I found this interesting bit of
information: (3) Spirituality is a broad concept with room for many
perspectives. In general, it includes a sense of connection to something bigger
than ourselves, and it typically involves a search for meaning in life. As such, it
is a universal human experiencesomething that touches us all. This really
struck me. As we find out who we are spiritually, it gives our lives meaning.
This is where I connect it to religion. Determining who I am through my
religion has definitely given my life meaning.
As I prepare to bring a child into this world, it definitely helps me
connect more to my spirituality, and the meaning of life. As I was searching
the web, I came across some very interesting advice when introducing your
child to spirituality. They obviously dont grasp concepts the same way an
adult would, and need the additional explanations, so a group of doctors

actually suggested Although your toddler is a bit young for serious spiritual
teaching, you can begin nurturing her spiritual side in other ways. For now you
might just encourage her to be kind to others or mention your faith when you
answer her cosmic questions. I love that this makes it tie into a previously
mentioned value of humanity, and also family.
I had the opportunity to sit down with my father in law and have the
following discussion about spirituality: (4)
Me: What does Spirituality mean to you?
Evan: It is my connection with God.
Me: What do you do to share your spirituality with others?
Evan: I serve in the temple, and do service for others as much as
possible.
Me: What can others do for you to show you they are spiritual?
Evan: Share their testimony, or a summary of what they believe in and
why.
Me: How do you connect spiritually, like with other people?

Evan: I share my testimony with them, and invite them to church or to

attend the temple with me to show a glimpse of what I believe.
It was really great to see this side of my father-in-law, and to connect
with him on a more spiritual level.
I feel like my values all tie together nicely, and that is how I like to live
my life. I think if more people valued being humane, family, and spirituality,
the world would be a happier place.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/humanity?s=t
2. http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/m/margaretme393230.htm
l?src=t_family

3. http://www.takingcharge.csh.umn.edu/enhance-yourwellbeing/purpose/spirituality/what-spirituality
4. Interview with Evan Weight, February 10, 2015.