I'm Oprah Winfrey. Welcome to Super Soul Conversations, the podcast. I believe that one of

the most valuable gifts you can give yourself is time, taking time to be more fully present.

Your journey to become more inspired and connected to the deeper world around us starts right

now.

Born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1947, Puello was raised in a devout Catholic home.

As a teenager, Puello yearned to be a writer. He says his parents saw his artistic desire

as a sign of mental illness and committed him to a mental institution three times. He

eventually enrolled in law school and attempted to lead a more traditional life. But fate had

other plans for Puello. He immersed himself in what he calls a hippie life, experimenting

with sex, drugs and rock and roll. Puello became a political activist and wrote song lyrics

for a Brazilian rock star. He eventually returned to his Catholic roots and walked the El Camino

de Santiago trail. It is a historic Catholic pilgrimage. During this 500 mile trek from France

to northern Spain, Puello says he had an epiphany that fueled his desire to write. Now Puello

has written 31 books. His seminal work, The Alchemist, is celebrating its 25th anniversary.

The book has been on the New York Times best sellers list for more than six years and

has sold more than 65 million copies worldwide.

So when you were younger years before you published any books, you wrote this in your diary.

Every day it seems harder to achieve my great ideal to be famous and respected, to be

the man who wrote the book of the century, the thought of the millennium, the history of

humanity. How were you when you wrote that?

Well, I was always a little bit to make a Lomaniac.

Oh my gosh. So this is amazing to me that you would write that and then you become this

...