How do I do teshuvah?
1. Attitude Adjustment
Firstly, be humble. EGO stands for Edging G-d Out, so chuck it and
get nice and stupid as you stand in G-d's Presence (which is
everywhere): do you think you're so important that you can do
something G-d doesn't want you to do?
2. Verbal Confession
Speak directly to G-d and specify your slip-up. Tell Him you're
sorry for what youve done wrong, that you regret it, and that
you'll do your best to never do it again.
3. Make like a frozen fowl
Go cold turkey. Just stop doing whatever negative Mitzvah you were
doing that you shouldn't have been doing, or start doing whatever
positive mitzvah you should have been doing, that you weren't
doing. At its gut, teshuvah is regret of the past, and resolve
towards the future.
4. The Power of Willpower
Mark Twain once said, "Quitting smoking is easy--I've quit 40
times." Obviously, he never tried teshuvah. Teshuvah requires
willpower. Willpower is to teshuvah what Super Unleaded is to your
car: without willpower, teshuvah just conks out. Whatever mitzvah
is your issue, get back in line with it, and stick to it like
glue.
5. The Ultimate Teshuvah Test
If you once had an affair, for example, and later, you find
yourself alone with that woman, at that same rendezvous, and you
don't cave to your raging hormones, congratulations--you've done
teshuvah. This is Maimonides' depiction of the willpower of
teshuvah. He uses it because there's no greater temptation on earth
than sexual desire, and hence no greater example of stalwart
willpower than resisting this temptation. If you can do teshuvah
for the sins of lust, you can do teshuvah for anything.