Quran e Paak makes it clear:
kullu NAFSIN zaa'iqatul mawt
"every NAFS (self) will TASTE death"
From this Ayat, we know that the NAFS (self) dies, not Rooh (soul). Soul is immortal. And we also know that, the period of getting death is short, because the Ayah mentions the word "zaaiqa" meaning to taste. Tasting is just a moment, eating takes time. The difference is clear. So forget what people have said, that death means everything and everything is over. Hadith Shareef makes it clear, a person is sleeping,when he dies, it is then that his sleep is over and he wakes up! So reality is what you will see after death, for now we are in like a dream, we are sleeping, although we do not realise it.
So the Nafs dies. Those Awliya of ALLAH who have killed their Nafs before death by following Quran and Sunnah completely, death do not touch them ! Because nafs dies. Here, the nafs of Awliya are already dead in their lifetime, so how will death touch them? For them,death just means a transfer from here to there, just like someone who lived in a town ,got transferred to another town.
~The food of the Nafs is to sin and make disobedience of Allah and His Beloved (sallallahu 'alayhi wa alihi wa sallam).
~ The Food of the Rooh (soul) is to obey Allah and His Beloved (sallallahu 'alayhi wa alihi wa sallam)
So if the Rooh is not given its food, it becomes weak and weak, finally it dies. Thats why people don't find sweetness in Ibaadat. When you talk about Islam, they feel sleepy. Thats because, the Rooh has not been given enough food so its weak. People kept sinning and giving food to the nafs, so their nafs have become strong, and rooh weak.
To test this, just find a person whose nafs is stronger than his rooh.
Then, talk about Islam with him, you'll find him sleepy. Then, put a beautiful film of 3hours on tv , he'll watch without feeling sleepy. So you see what happens when Rooh is weaker than nafs
Give your Rooh its food, keep the nafs starving, insha it'll become weak and finally die
Taken from Hadhrat Mawlana Shafi Okarvi (rahmatullahi 'alayh)