This is genuine and true († Elder Filotheos Zervakos)

The characteristic feature of true repentance is profound emotion, devastation and sorrow of the heart, which is sad not because it’s going to be punished, but because, with its sin, it saddened and angered God Who is such a loving and tender Father. It’s the sighs, the compunction, the prayers, the fasts, and the tears. That repentance is genuine and real.