Patience has become one of my go-to emotions of late. I have always been a tad impatient and I am now actively learning to be in the emotion of patience. I work on it every day. For me, it takes conscious effort.

And I needed to call upon patience again when I least expected to (which usually is always) with a situation I am least knowledgeable of. But this time something was different. I committed to follow through and I did.

I fixed a leaking water closet (WC) in my downstairs bathroom. I was cleaning my house which included washing the bathroom. After cleaning the WC, I noticed a leak. I could tell that the float was at the right level, but the closet was still overflowing. Urgh.

I noticed a leak when I came back from Europe two months ago and learnt from my husband, Markus., how to fix it. It had been good for 2 months but suddenly, the leak was back. With many other items on my to-do list, the leak was quickly derailing my agenda.

I could call my plumber the next morning, but my instinct told me I could fix the problem myself, but I knew it would take time (patience). I called my plumbing support, Markus, who is still in Europe to talk me through the process.

I was quickly reminded of how the screw and nut worked and went on to fix the float. However, every setting I tried would not stop the leak. I was baffled. The water would not cut off. There was still a slow leak.

At this point, Markus said I might need to buy a new float. He thought it might be past its use-by date. I wasn’t convinced and I asked him what else I could try. Markus looks after all the hardware in the house, and I knew he would think of other options. In the past, he said he had unscrewed the float and cleaned the inner membrane.

I could try that I thought. I turned off the water supply. I figured out how to unscrew the float and found my answer! The inside of the membrane had tiny sediments that caused my leak. I washed the membrane, screwed the float back on, and made my adjustments to the screw and my leak STOPPED!

I have never been so proud of myself and was overcome with a sense of achievement. A little patience and perseverance got me to the finish line (although it derailed my agenda). What a feeling!

I am not writing about my plumbing experience to brag about my achievement but about how much we don’t know but could know if we only took the time to learn. And time is NOT the issue. Our resistance to pause is. Pausing means taking time to think. Pausing means learning. Pausing means patience. That’s the block.

In this instance, it was an easy fix and one that I could do. Should it have been more complex, I would have had to call my plumber. But the easy way out, even for me, would have been to call the plumber. And in Asia, where call-out fees for services are still reasonable, we outsource most things to service providers.

But that too is changing. Since I started writing this article, my LCD TV has stopped working. It has power but the power up button does not turn the TV on. When I googled the problem, it seems a common problem with a do-it-yourself (DIY) fix. But that requires a soldering iron and new capacitor. Though I am familiar with both, this time I need professional help. I know my limits.

But I have found out, in trying to get the TV repaired, that there is a DIY repair centre in the city that assists customers with their own repairs! If the location was more convenient, I would have tried it. Not to hone my TV repair skills but to problem-solve. The brain loves problem-solving.

When we stop to think about it, we may become aware of how quickly we outsource our thinking to others. But getting someone else to do our thinking is the easy way out. The brain loves to solve a good problem. But you may need patience on standby!

As always, you can reach me at yoga@yoganesadurai.com