All [spiritual traditions] involve techniques of helping the total self — mind, body, and spirit — make the shift from ego-bound to connective consciousness. Some methods have hovered at the margins of Western Christian practice or been forgotten entirely. Only recently have they been rediscovered and gained increasing acceptance.
These methods of mind training are a vital part of what the Hebrew Scriptures call teshuva or "turning" to God. When translated as "repentance," as it usually is, this word seems to suggest that we start focusing on our own faults, inadequacies, sins, and failings; whereas it is, quite simply, an invitation to turn away from self-preoccupation toward available grace. The same can be said for the New Testament word metanoia — literally, "going beyond your (present) state of mind." Turn your whole self — faults, strengths, everything — toward grace: go beyond your present state of mind; the active presence and rule of God are at hand. Look, see, claim, receive — now.
This "turning" is neither a once-in-a-lifetime event nor a life-long preoccupation with sin. Turning toward God involves a continual, habitually recurring shift from an ego-driven agenda to a receptive openness to grace, from fretful reactivity to the welcoming breath of blessing. The Benedictines call this practice "a continual conversion of the heart."
— Robert Corin Morris, Wrestling With Grace