Coping with Life - Harry Michaels Gael

Coping with Life is about how we adapt to our existence---either successfully or unsuccessfully or anywhere in between. This is not a black or white treatment. We all have strengths and weaknesses and varying degrees of coping skills because we are all human. However, I maintain that the quality of our adaptations in life largely rest upon how we were raised as children. Genetics and environmental factors are certainly implicated but current research is telling us that those elements are secondary to the psychological influences of early childhood development. Therefor, developmental issues such as psychological, religious and educational form the framework on which my essay is based.

This essay discusses the elements of the successful accomplishment of developmental tasks in childhood and the gratification of basic needs as described by Erik Erikson, Abraham Maslow and others, as well as how early child development is related to brain activity in the adult character. Also, in the Psychology and Education sections I discuss in some detail the three major bulwarks of warding off juvenile crime: the family, the school and the community.

Religion is discussed in the beginning because it is so elemental to our existence and has been throughout the centuries of Man's life on this planet. I envision religion as a spiritual and ethical component of our daily life in which there is no dogmatic or authoritarian belief system but, rather, an active, dynamic religious faith and hope in whatever condition of life we find ourselves in at the moment with an attitude of good-will toward ourselves and others.