Debbie Bean
Rainbow Maker
Los Angeles, CA
www.debbiebean.com
@debbie.bean
Where were you raised? Has the landscape of that place influenced your work in any way?
I’m a total Valley Girl. I grew up in Woodland Hills and hated it! It did however completely shape who I am today. I think boredom is a great motivator for creativity. I ditched school so much in High School that I had to take a night class to catch up on my missing credits and decided to take a stained glass class. I think about that a lot. When people get stressed about making the right decisions in their life and how you have to have this perfectly laid out path in order to live your “best” life or whatever. That’s never been true for me. In fact, because I struggled so much when I was younger, it forced me to seek outside things to learn and explore and it literally laid the foundation to what would become my career some 20 years later. So, it keeps me open to when things don’t go the way I planned or hoped for because I know that there is a more to what is going on in our universe than I could possibly comprehend and as long as I am willing to learn from my experiences, there’s always going to be new opportunities ahead of me.
How do you re-charge your creative battery?
I try to do things that get me reconnected with my body, which is funny because I honestly stand almost all day while working. I think it’s important for me to get in touch with my physical body so I can reconnect with where I am at creatively.
We live in an Equestrian neighborhood, so when I am feeling stuck I can go for a hike and along the way say hi to my neighbor’s horses or pause to let some wild peacocks cross the street! If time allows, nothing beats getting on the road and going somewhere.
What book are you reading?
I sometimes joke that I’ve become illiterate because I used to be a voracious reader and lately I’ve fallen out of practice of doing so. File under things I need to carve out time for again. I did however just re-read Guillaume Wolf’s, “You are a Circle” which is great for any artist seeking inspiration.
What was the last thing that you fell in love with?
The tea from the Fairmont Hotel. Seriously, I’m obsessed with their Lot 35 Imperial Breakfast tea. We went to the Grand Del Mar for a quick getaway on our Anniversary and did their Afternoon Tea and I just became obsessed with their tea! I brought some home with me, read up on how Fairmont Hotels had recently revamped their entire tea offerings and then proceeded to order some for the house immediately.
I stopped drinking coffee over 10 years ago and my morning cup of tea is the thing I look forward to most in my day. So finding this new tea, as pedestrian as that sounds, has really given me new joy on a daily basis. In fact, I am drinking a cup now!
What do you love most about yourself?
How I connect with animals. I always joke that the way most people are with babies, that’s how I am with puppies. The greatest joy I’ve ever known was taking care of my dog for 18 years. Especially in his last few years where he was basically on hospice care at home. It was so difficult but I always felt it was such an honor that this little creature let me take care of him, so all the sleepless nights were worth it.
What do you think is the most important quality in a human?
Kindness. I think about the people who had the biggest impact on me, my Lama and my Great Aunt Frances. They both shared this seemingly unending capacity to empathize with others. You know when you are with someone and you just feel safe around them? Like you can do or say anything and it will be ok? To me, that’s what I think of, when I think of kindness. It’s allowing others to be imperfect around you and not condemn them or make them feel badly about their behavior, but give them space to fail and see that the world didn’t end because of it. I’m a fixer. I want the people I love to be ok and for the longest time I thought that meant that if something wasn’t going well for them I had to fix it in order for them to be ok. Now, I try to listen more and not stop them from doing things I might not agree with and instead, just be a place they can go to when they need to talk. I’ll be honest, I’m a typical Sagittarius, so I don’t have much of an inside voice, but I am trying to listen more and if you’re looking for an opinion, I’m always happy to give you mine.
Do you have a spiritual practice?
I do. It’s far from perfect. I was fortunate to live down the street from a Tibetan Lama for a few years and he became my teacher. I’m a terrible Dharma practitioner, truly. I mean I am nowhere near done with my Ngondro, but I do have a meditation practice that when I am doing regularly, I find centers me in a way that nothing else can.
I am constantly reviewing my behavior and thoughts to see if they’re aligned with how I wish to be in the world and anyone that knows me, knows that even with my crazy schedule I’m at the Raven with Tony G at least 3 times a week for yoga.
Who are your role models?
My late teachers, the Venerable Lama Chodak Gyatso Nubpa, Lama Gompo Tenzin Rinpoche and my Aunt Frances.
My parents switched temples when I was already in my early twenties and Rabbi Meier Schimmel was the kindest person I ever met. He always greeted everyone on Friday night when we would enter the temple with a smile and a kiss on each cheek, I found his love of life infectious. I am fortunate to have Venerable Lama Nawang Thogmed still in my life today and my correspondence with him is always a reminder to be diligent in my kindness towards others and myself.
And of course, Oliver Sachs.
If you could change one thing about our world, what would it be? Is there individual or an organization doing work in this area that you want us to know about?
I would turn up the dial on people’s empathy. It seems to me the fundamental issue we have is a lack of empathy, right? I mean if we had a greater capacity for being emotionally connected to people, it would prove to be that much harder to have hatred towards them. It’s easy to judge someone on a singular action, but if we had like a micro glimpse into other people’s lives every time we interacted with them, I like to think it would make us feel less hatred towards others. I always see the route of most hatred being fear; fear of the unknown, fear of what is different, so if we removed that ignorance it seems that it would give way to greater compassion. Imagine what our world would look like then.
Yes, my teacher started a nonprofit called Ari Bhod. You can learn about him and his teachings there. www.aribhod.org
Before I die I want to…. Fill in the blank
Travel more. I used to travel a lot and I was good at it. I had a job where I lived on the road and waking up on a bus in a different city every day, suited me just fine. Starting a new business while simultaneously caring for my senior dog in has last few years of life and buying a new house has made me rather stationary. I’m actively working on changing my work situation so that I now have the support I need in the studio which means that I can get out into the world more again. I love being a stranger in new cities, it always forces me out of my comfort zone and to interact with people a lot more than I have to in my daily life. I love that. It’s easy to see where everything is awful in the world and for me, I need to be reminded that there are strange, beautiful things going on in other places and bring that sense of wonder home with me.
All photos courtesy of Debbie Bean
