Repentance involves both mind and heart.

Getting the sense with the heart. For repentance, then, there must initially be a hearing and seeing with understanding, due to a receptive heart. (Compare Isa 6:9, 10; Mt 13:13-15; Ac 28:26, 27.) Not only does the mind perceive and grasp what the ear hears and the eye sees, but more important, those repenting “get the sense of it [“the thought,” Joh 12:40] with their hearts.” (Mt 13:15; Ac 28:27) There is, therefore, not merely an intellectual recognition of the wrongness of their ways but a heart appreciation of this fact. With those already having knowledge of God, it may be a case of their ‘calling back to their heart’ such knowledge of him and his commandments (De 4:39; compare Pr 24:32; Isa 44:18-20) so that they can “come to their senses.” (1Ki 8:47) With the right heart motivation they can ‘make their mind over, proving to themselves the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God.’​—Ro 12:2.

If there is faith and love for God in the person’s heart, there will be sincere regret, sadness over the wrong course. Appreciation for God’s goodness and greatness will make transgressors feel keen remorse at having brought reproach on his name. (Compare Job 42:1-6.) Love for neighbor will also make them rue the harm they have done to others, the bad example set, perhaps the way in which they have sullied the reputation of God’s people among outsiders. They seek forgiveness because they desire to honor God’s name and to work for the good of their neighbor. (1Ki 8:33, 34; Ps 25:7-11; 51:11-15; Da 9:18, 19) Repentantly they feel “broken at heart,” “crushed and lowly in spirit” (Ps 34:18; 51:17; Isa 57:15), they are “contrite in spirit and trembling at [God’s] word,” which calls for repentance (Isa 66:2), and in effect, they “come quivering to Jehovah and to his goodness.” (Ho 3:5) When David acted foolishly in the matter of a census, his “heart began to beat him.”​—2Sa 24:10.

There must therefore be a definite rejection of the bad course, a heartfelt hating of it, repugnance for it (Ps 97:10; 101:3; 119:104; Ro 12:9; compare Heb 1:9; Jude 23), for “the fear of Jehovah means the hating of bad,” including self-exaltation, pride, the bad way, and the perverse mouth. (Pr 8:13; 4:24) Along with this, there must be a loving of righteousness and the firm determination to adhere to a righteous course from then on. Without both this hatred of bad and love of righteousness, there will be no genuine force to the repentance, no following through with true conversion. Thus, King Rehoboam humbled himself under the expression of Jehovah’s anger, but afterward Rehoboam “did what was bad, for he had not firmly established his heart to search for Jehovah.”​—2Ch 12:12-14; compare Ho 6:4-6.

Regret, remorse, and tears, then, are not a certain measure of genuine repentance; the heart motive is determinative.