Leading ourselves means learning to respond to arising conditions, instead of reacting to them. To consciously and wisely respond to situations, we have to be aware of the parts of ourselves that might get in the way of us responding appropriately and effectively. In short, we need to be aware of our programming, our experiences, and even our traumatic history that may be clouding our interpretation of a given situation, and our response to it. Think of these experiences and programs as being like smudges on the lenses of our perception that prevent us from seeing things clearly and navigating things well.