Rambam’s (Maimonides’) definition of the mitzva of teshuva is a step-by-step process that has a clear starting point and endpoint. A person “dusts himself off” from his sin and ends his wrong behavior. He arrives at a decision not to go back to his old ways, and he regrets that he had sinned. At the end of the process, he confesses his sin (Mishneh Torah, Hilkhot Teshuva 2b).
