What does Repent mean?

I'm glad you asked.
In "Parable of The Sower-a closer look" I used a term in the last sentence that I wanted to focus in on and that is the word "repent." The reason I want to do that is because of the picture, or the feeling that is so often associated with it, which I, as well as you I am sure, have had arise at it's mention. That feeling is one of Stark Raving Terror at the thought of not doing something that we have been doing for such a long time! Am I right?
As we read the bible we will come across the word "repent" quite a number of times and it is word designed to make us think, or reconsider the course that we are on, or the direction that we are going.
How about a real life experience that each of us have had that gives us a picture of what repentance, or the act of actually going beyond reconsidering (repent) and actually deciding we are not going the direction we really want to.
While driving along we see a sign that indicates we have gone past where we really wanted to go, we must have been day dreaming or something. When we see the sign we repent, we consider going a different direction than we are now because we realize that the direction we are going is the wrong direction but we still have a choice. We now know that we are going the wrong direction, and we have considered turning around and going the right direction but until we put on the brakes and go the other direction we are not going to get to our destination.
I suppose that would be the simplest way to picture repentance, but there is one more aspect of repentance, or the call to repent, that is not in the car picture. That I think would be better expressed by another scenario.
We have a job. The job we have is O.K. but it does not supply what we really need. So now we repent, we reconsider the direction we are going. In the process of our reconsideration we explore what is available and who is willing to accept us all we have to do is fill out an application.
This would all be under the idea of the word "repent."
The next thing we do is fill out the application and give notice. We are now repenting, or in the process of repentance because we are not only changing directions we are changing loyalties. After we are hired to our new job we are done with the old job.
The next example I want gets just a little closer to home. Driving is quite impersonal, getting a job is a little more personal, but the next example is just a little more personal yet, Marriage.
One who is getting married is, in so many words, promising to repent of a single life and the proof of that repentance is loyalty to another person in all aspects of life especially in the issues of (but not limited to) sex. In essence it is the leaving of one way of living and engaging in a new way of living.
So when we come across the word repent in the bible it is because it's purpose is to initiate the process of recognizing wrong and right courses for our heart by looking at the context of the scriptures, and recognizing our dependence upon Jesus and the new birth to accomplish what only a changed heart can do.