Crying, Pain & Tears: 1a

A person can cry out to Hashem for one of two reasons. He may find himself in pain or in a difficult situation, such as the Jewish nation crying out to Hashem because of the pain of servitude in Egypt. It is a bitter cry that results from the person's inability to keep his pain inside any longer. There are other times when a person may feel that he is spiritually asleep. He wants to cry out like a roaring lion in order to awaken himself.

There is one more type of cry. It is the silent cry of the heart. As Rebbe Nachman writes, "It is possible to cry out greatly in a small still voice that will be unheard by anyone else. Any person is capable of picturing to themselves a great cry with all the sounds it makes. He can meditate on this until he feels himself shouting internally. By doing so he brings the shout into the depths of his mind."

Being Faithful: 4

Even when a person realizes that he needs to engage in a process of Teshuvah, he will often mistakenly rely on what is found in the words of our Sages as to the actions in which one must engage to succeed at Teshuvah. Even though everything they say is true and we can't ignore the pshat of what they say, but the real foundation of Teshuvah is purity of the heart, not actions. It is easy to get lost in the behavioral changes which are misdirecting him from the essential pursuit of Teshuvah, which is found in the heart.
But when a person engages in a conversation with Hashem he can see through his own mirage. He can't say to Hashem, "I did this and that for you, and I did all these good deeds in order that you should give me life, good children and plenty of money in the coming year." If he tries saying that, the following will be self-evident as well, "By the way, I wish I didn't feel that Judgement Day was upon me. This is a real nuisance and I am having to do an awful lot of work to deal with it. But, the Torah says that this is Rosh HaShanah and I am going to be judged, so I'm doing what I need to do."

Being Faithful: 3

When Rosh HaShanah comes along the main thing which Hashem desires from us is our hearts. Some people come to Rosh HaShanah with an agenda: they need to have a good year and are trying to figure out what to do to get that. They ask for forgiveness, say המלך with all their might, but their hearts are not really into it. They want to know what to do in order to be declared innocent in the Heavenly Court, so they change their ways and confess their sins and pour out their words. Hoping that after all that they will get a good judgement.
But, in a moment of truth between the person and his Creator, he might come to the realization that Hashem wants something else entirely; He wants the heart. רחמנא לבא בעי. He wants a person to be connected to Him with joy, faithfulness, completely and simply. A tiny bit of pure truth in the heart is more precious to Hashem than hundreds of good deeds that were ultimately done for ulterior motives.