What leads to this change of mind? Can a person bring about a change of mind in themselves? Lets take inappropriate contentography as a example, if a person goes and reads about the harm inappropriate content causes, how it affects the brain, and the way people who are trafficed are abused, that might lead to a change of mind, but is that biblical repentance?
Well, I would like to direct you to a book called "Thirty Steps to Heaven", by Archimandrite Vassilios Papavassiliou. I'll leave a link to the book at the bottom if you'd like to have a look. I can recommend both the kindle, and paper editions. While these 30 steps sound like a title meant for a terrible attempt at a New York Times best-seller it is actually very useful. In this writing he takes the great work by St. John Climacus called "The Ladder of Divine Ascent" which was originally written for monks, and nuns and applies the ideas found in the original writing, and explains them in a way that makes sense for those of us who are not monks, or nuns. Keeping in mind the great ascetics of early Christianity spent their entire lives dead to this world, and in constant prayer while seeking the Kingdom they have very useful information for us when it comes to applying what we read in the Holy Scriptures to actual practice.
So, more to your question. In Step 5 of the book he analyzes the Holy Mystery of repentance. He starts by saying this :
"
The Greek word for repentance, metanoia, means “to have a change of heart or mind,” while the Greek word for sin, hamartia, means “to miss the mark.” Now if sin means missing the mark, then repentance means getting back on target. It is only when we understand repentance in this way that we can comprehend it as an ongoing, positive, and creative process.
Repentance lies at the very heart of Christian life. The preaching of our Lord Himself began with repentance: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt. 4:17). All orthodox Christians have taught that there is no salvation without it. St. John of the Ladder is no exception: It is impossible for those of us who have fallen into the sink of iniquity ever to be drawn out of it unless we also plumb the depths of the humility shown by the penitent.
It is clear that repentance, like obedience, is rooted in humility. A proud person cannot repent, for repentance allows no room for ego and conceit. Pride blinds us to our own sins, while we go on hating those very same sins when we see them in others. Humility alone is capable of seeing the truth, of enabling us to see ourselves as we really are.
The end of repentance is to behold the face of God and to hear Him say, “Your sins are forgiven”; “Go and sin no more” (Matt. 9:2; John 8:11). “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace” (Luke 7:50). Repentance springs from humility, and humility makes us free. As St. John writes: Where there is real humility, all bonds are made free."
Papavassiliou, Vassilios. Thirty Steps to Heaven . Ancient Faith Publishing. Kindle Edition.
So, we see here that humility is the beginning or repentance. Humility is the mother of all the virtues, whereas pride is the root of all sin. To affect the change you're talking about we must humble ourselves before God, and understand the root of why we sin, and intend on meaningful change. We achieve this through living a sacramental life. We pray as often as possible, partake of the Holy Sacraments (to include confession), read the Holy Scriptures often/daily, and the lives of the Saints as they are our guides to application of what we're learning.
I'd also add that confession is an important step to repentance, and both the Archimandrite, and St. John Climacus talk about this in that same area of the book though I know as a Protestant this is something you may, or may not partake of, and of course in this I mean you no offense, but it needs to be mentioned as confession and repentance go hand in hand. I'd also mention that it's helpful because it causes us to be accountable before not just Christ in our confession, but to our Spiritual Father who can also recommend helpful ways to overcome recurring sins. But I'll stop there out of love as I truly don't mean to "convert" you, or offend you.
Last, I'll mention that different things can assist us in the change though it depends on the sin. One that I return to is the Final Judgement. While God is love ultimately that doesn't mean that we're given a pass to heaven. We are to strive for the Kingdom, and work out our salvation with fear, and trembling. (Philippians 2:12). In particular if you're referring to inappropriate contentography which is so prevalent in our society today unfortunately there is an idea that usually helps me. I think of the man as an image of Christ, and the woman as an image of Christ's Mother (the Theotokos which is Greek for God-bearer as decreed in 431 A.D at the Council of Ephesus) as we are created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26). This helps any of those images to immediately become repugnant. In addition during those moments always call to Christ for help, and pray. He will help you, and remember that invoking the name of Christ will cause the demons to retreat. The sign of the cross, and the Jesus Prayer burns the demons.
Edit : I forgot to add the link. My apologies; here it is.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00J8XP5XM/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i1
