It is a stage that all of those who are striving and competing are competing for it, and it is a kind of life that if you are missing it you are one of the dead. It is a light that if you are without it, you are in and ocean of darkness. Furthermore, it is a medicine or cure that if you are without it, your heart becomes a place of sicknesses. It is a sweetness or pleasure that if you are without it, life becomes a thing of worries and of pain.

— ابن قيم الجوزية

The slave is not afflicted with a punishment greater than the hardening of the heart and being distant from Allah. For the Fire was created to melt the hardened heart. The most distant heart from Allah is the heart which is hardened. If the heart becomes hardened, the eye becomes dry.

— ابن قيم الجوزية

You must be willing to change. You must be willing to break the deal you made with the devils within. Furthermore, you must be willing to leave the past and not be tempted to rebound when times are tough. Furthermore, you must be willing to let go of everything and anyone that takes you back to your sins. You must be willing to have hope. Furthermore, you must be willing to have hope that you can change and that you will and that you will be better. You must believe you are worthy of change, and you are worthy of improvement, and you are worthy of being the best. You must be willing to set aside your negative notions about life, about hardships, about people, about things, about yourself. Furthermore, you must be willing to stop feeling sorry for yourself while looking at the world move around you. Get up and make something of yourself.

— ابن قيم الجوزية