Spiritual Health?

One of the classes I'm required to take this quarter is a cultural diversity class. It had the possibility of being interesting, but it just isn't. I think our instructor is more interested in busy work than in actually teaching us something. For example, for the next week, I have to keep a health diary. Seriously, what does this have to do with learning about different cultures. I know what I believe. It might be better to learn what other cultures value so I can understand where they are coming from. Then I read the criteria:

Keep a record of your health--physical, mental, and spiritual--status and behavior.

This is quite annoying. I am sick of my instructors telling me that nursing is evidence based and then trying to throw spirituality in as a legitimate health concern! I enjoy nature, spending time with my family, listening to music, reading a good book...I could go on. Some people may define that as spiritual...I don't because I don't believe in a "spirit" or "soul". To me, this should really be lumped in with mental health.

But, is a "spiritual" person necessarily mentally healthy? In my experience, many people who call themselves spiritual are not mentally healthy. Many are looking for answers to their problems. Churches prey on the mentally unhealthy individuals because they know they can make them feel guilty about their "sin". Unfortunately, these people believe anything if they think it will make them feel better about themselves. Instead of facing their problems and learning good coping skills, they pretend like they have no control over their own lives...."it's in god's hands".

I think I would be concerned about the people who call themselves spiritually healthy and would check into their mental health. I won't be writing anything about my spiritual health in this journal because there is no such thing! We'll see what my instructor has to say next week.