This doesn’t mean that we completely forget our sins forever and never do teshuvah on them. Rather, we shouldn’t think about them at all as we go about the day. Instead, we should simply strengthen ourselves to do the avodah at hand. Then, during hisbodedus, we should confess our sins to Hashem, ask for forgiveness, and purify ourselves from the past entirely. In other words, feeling regret for our mistakes is a very good thing, as long as we do it at the right time.
When we’re supposed to be learning Torah or davening Shemonah Esrei, thoughts of remorse about the past are very destructive, since they take us away from our Torah and tefillah and greatly discourage us from serving Hashem. On the other hand, we should take some time every day to go over what has happened during the past 24 hours and do teshuvah for the sins we’ve committed. However, even as we do so, we must avoid all of the negative emotions of depression and despair that are associated with our sins. These feelings come purely from the yetzer hara himself, so we must eliminate them permanently from our minds, and not allow them to enter our confession before Hashem.
The general principle is to do the avodah of this moment without any confusion. When we’re learning, davening, working, or spending time with our families, we should block out all thoughts about the past. Then, when we do hisbodedus, we should fulfill the avodah of that moment: to feel regret for our sins and ask for forgiveness.
