When you hear your voice saying how much you regret what you did, it hits much deeper inside.
The world thinks--says chassidic master Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi in one of his discourses--thatteshuvahis for sinners. But in truth, also the perfectly righteous person must do teshuvah -- that is, return to the root-source of his soul...
Commonly translated as "repentance," teshuvah literally means "return."Teshuvah is the soul's capacity to return to its original state, to its pristine core. As we pass through life, we are invariably coarsened and sullied by our errors and misjudgments, or simply by the travails of physical life; but our innermost self, the "veritable part of G‑d" that is the essence of our soul -- remains untouched. Teshuvah is the G‑d-given ability to access and reconnect to that untouched self, reestablish our lives upon its foundation, and even redefine a negative past in its purifying light.