Answered by Sayyidi Habib Umar bin Hafiz (may Allah protect him and benefit us by him)
What advice do you have for us if we lose our aspiration for travelling the spiritual path and for performing acts of worship?
You must renew your approach to Allah. Sit for an hour or two or three facing the qiblah imagining that you are in the Blessed Rawdah or in front of the grave of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ , seeking a connection to him, closeness to him, and his companionship, while bestowing many prayers upon him. This will be a means of renewing your approach.
You can also stand facing the qiblah and say Allaaah (extending the ‘a’) 66 times.
Even if you yourself are weak then have strong determination and ambition and seek strength from the All-Powerful, for then your weakness will be transformed into strength. Take strength from being broken for His sake for He says: ‘I am with the ones whose hearts are broken for My sake.’ Your feeling of weakness should not drive you to despair, but rather it should be a means of truly submitting to Allah which pushes you to truly seek Him.
Drive yourself forward by giving it hope: remind it of the reward (of these actions) and their end result in the next life. Bring to mind the merits of these actions mentioned by your Prophet ﷺ. Also study the biographies of those who exerted great efforts in performing acts of obedience. We should have remorse for opportunities to worship Allah that pass us by.
If you become lazy at certain times, do not despair. Do not waver and do not delay – go back to what you were doing for you are, by your nature, deficient. It may be that your laziness teaches you a great lesson. It may bring about in you brokenness in front of Allah, and may remove pride (‘ujb) from your heart. This may be more beneficial for you than actually performing the action itself.