Once upon a time, there lived a poor peasant farmer by the name of Godfrey Brooker Bennett. Godfrey and his family lived on a large piece of land, but they did not own the land. On that land, they stayed in a little hut too small to even be considered a home.

The little hut was built by their Lord, Barron Forester, who never intended for it to be inhabited and so cared little that the cold winds blew swiftly through the cracks in the walls and the much needed rains dripped into the dwelling as if it was even begging for shelter.

As a peasant farmer, Godfrey’s days were spent tilling the soil. But surely, tilling the soil was not his only task. Godfrey’s live varied based on different times of the year. Farming was a very hard and crude task. Like most other medieval farmers Godfrey followed the farmer’s year.

This was a strict and controlling time schedule that served to only further bind Godfrey to the farm, the seasons, and even the weather. Every single month there was a new activity the farmer engaged in, and with that came an ever-changing want for the right weather conditions.

Imagine how much further this system served to create for Godfrey a feeling of bondage and captivity?

Though the duties changed every month, they soon became laborious and grinding. Godfrey could not help but feel the life being either sucked out of him by the bitter cold of winter, or sapped and drained from him by the sweltering heat of summer.

The stench of the fresh, nutrient rich manure was enough to either clean or clog his sinuses. But if you think that was bad, just wait until you catch a whiff of March when Godfrey would have to spread that manure by hand and mix it in with the soil. Hopefully the air would be dry by now and they would not suffer any major frosts.

Most important was April and May when Godfrey prayed for a mixture of showers and sunshine to saturate the ground as he sowed one field in April and plowed the fallow ground in May.

Godfrey knew that if the right mixture of showers and sunshine did not come during April and May and he didn’t get the tedious task of sowing and harrowing done on time, then the certain dry weather of June and early July would be of no effective value. Then there would be no haymaking during those months and certainly no harvesting to be had in the hot arid heat of August.

As Godfrey leaned against his hoe, he knew for sure that the summer would end with the hoped for showers of September. That just brought more work of threshing, plowing and pruning fruit trees. And his plowing wouldn’t end until October — as long as it was dry and suffered no frost. November and December would be much like April and May with plenty of blended mixture of sunshine and showers.

Godfrey knew that these final months of the year, his time would be spent killing animals for food, collecting acorns for the pigs, mending old tools or making new ones. Yet, more than that, these would be months of reflection, as Godfrey got ready to do it all over again another year.

One afternoon in January, as Godfrey worked tilling the soil, he thought of his family and he leaned up against his pitchfork. “Would this year’s crop yield enough to feed them all?” His clothes were tattered and torn and his shoes were deliberately cut to make them fit his swollen and enlarged feet.

A life of serfdom and a legacy of poverty was all he had to show for the last eleven years of toil and labor. He couldn’t help but wonder how the next twenty years would turn out. Somehow he knew that certainly, if he did the same thing for the next twenty years that he did for the last twenty years, then his life would pretty much be the same.

As Godfrey rested and let his mind wonder, he thought back to a day much like this one … a day when a Wise Guru showed up on his farm, appearing as a traveling stranger.

Godfrey remembered how he had poured water for the Wise Guru’s horse. His wife prepared a nourishing meal and a place for the Wise Guru to rest in their one room hut that night.

Then, just at the break of dawn, as the Wise Guru got on his horse and said good-bye, he paused and peered straight into Godfrey’s eyes. It seemed like the Wise Guru could read the distant imprints on Godfrey’s very soul…

The Wise Guru spoke softly and said to Godfrey, “Yes! The answer to your question is Yes!”

“What are you talking about?” Godfrey asked.

“The answer to the question in your mind is ‘Yes’,” is the answer Godfrey got from the Wise Guru.

“I have heard and felt the gnawing, nagging questions of thy heart and mind and soul. The answer is “Yes!” It is indeed possible to live a better life. Nobody is condemned to be poor, and especially not you. You can become wealthy! You can become wealthy if you are willing to work hard. And beyond that… You can do, be, or become anything you want to be.”

The Wise Guru’s words still reverberated down the memory lanes of Godfrey’s mind as he remembered living daily with the wonderment of gnawing and nagging questions such as:

Godfrey again found himself thinking about these questions as the Wise Guru shared his words of wisdom.

The Wise Guru was just a stranger but he spoke with rich conviction. “Surely if you would only search for it; right here on this very land, among the wooded forests or the sun-baked plains, thou shalt find your very own ‘Well of Wealth’”.

“Wow! Was this really true? How could it be?”

Godfrey thought he knew every square inch of the land. But surely this

“Well of Wealth” was something he had never before seen anywhere on his land.

The “Well of Wealth” the Guru spoke of sounded simply amazing!

It would produce continued abundance. It would generate more than enough to feed both he and his entire household. The Wise Guru said, “Thy children, Joseph, Matthew and Mary, along with thy wife, Elizabeth, will live like Kings and Queens from this ‘Well of Wealth’. They will be nourished, fed and clothed with the finest in the land.”

The Wise Guru continued speaking in gentle assuring tones, “Picture thyself living safe and secure in a castle of finery and elegance all because of your very own ‘Well of Wealth’ … but you must search for it and find it. None can find it for thee, for then it would never be thine own.” Begin your search today and when I pass this way again I will stop and inquire about what progress you have made.

Can you picture the frustration felt between the life Godfrey lived now and the life the Wise Guru painted?

And so it was that Godfrey Brooker Bennett embarked on his very own, personal, hero’s journey.

He felt driven only by his quest for this “Well of Wealth.” His footsteps seemed guided by the Wise Guru’s words. “Don’t give up your search until you find it, for it is a good and worthy quest. You may go through obstacles and face your own personal tests as you engage in this journey. But don’t give up!”

This meant that Godfrey had to leave the work of the strip farming behind in order to go in search of this “Well of Wealth”. What if His Lord Barron Forester sees him this day? Godfrey would certainly suffer the consequences for his apparent idle and wayward behavior. He knew he must hurry on in his diligent search. It was indeed a journey of epic proportions, with new and interesting experiences unfolding every day.

But the Wise Guru said life for Godfrey would be “free and effortless” if he would diligently embark on this journey. The journey itself would be daunting and possibly challenging as, he went on his quest of discovery and personal development. Godfrey knew he would have to find a way to reinvent himself as well.

But in the end he would tap into his real source of power: a God-given burgeoning spirit; an unstoppable resilience; and an unlimited power that will drive him toward his destiny.

A life of unimagined joy and effortless living would be his. Then Godfrey’s only challenge would not be how to make bread to feed his family, but how to share his knowledge and power with others and make a difference in the world.

Such wonderful hopes and dreams! They seemed so worthwhile. But at what expense? Did he dare risk losing what little he had by angering Lord Forester?

Yet, each time Godfrey looked around him, he knew he had to continue on his quest to find an easy and effortless life filled with abundance. There was so much around him that seemed effortless, easy, and free. Why was his life so hard?

He thought of how light and free the birds flocked together in the skies above. The squirrels ran swiftly and light among the trees competing only with the pigs for the food of acorns that fell in abundance when the strong winds blew. The ground hogs and gophers ran like they owned the place. Even the fluffy rain clouds floated above with ease and pleasure and seemed to hang loosely among the heavens and freely chose just where to dump their water load.

So what was wrong with him? Why was he alone working hard on a job he did not like, for a boss he could not stand, only hoping to keep up with people he didn’t really care about, just to find out at the end of the year that he owed much more than he was worth. How did he get so unlucky to have such a miserable life?

Godfrey searched his mind but no answers came. There seemed to be only questions that came to him demanding more answers. Godfrey had longed for the answers that the Wise Guru had given him.

• “Why is life so hard?”
• “Is it possible to live a better life?”
• “Why am I condemned to be poor?”
• “How can I become wealthy?”

Now that he had the answers the “Well of Wealth” seemed almost like an elusive dream. The Wise Guru did not tell him exactly where the “Wealth of Wealth” would be. The Wise Guru told him only, “Godfrey, ye must search for it and ye shall find it for surely it doth exist.”

Suddenly, Godfrey was jarred from his momentary idle dream as the hot sun beat against his bareback. He looked at the long and endless rows of earth in the field he had turned over and tilled by hand that day. He felt hopeless, tired and worn.

These gigantic questions never left him alone, though he now had answers from the Wise Guru. They loomed larger than life itself in his mind. It seemed they had been there for a long time.

At first they were just small questions. It seemed unlikely for a poor peasant farmer who lived with his family in a small one room hut on a piece of farm land owned by the rich Lord Barron Forester, to even think of another possible way of life.

But there the questions were, looming and growing bigger and bigger within his mind.

“Is it possible to live another life than the one I’m living now?”

He thought. “I may have been born a poor peasant farmer, but who says I must remain one? The Wise Guru talked about a ‘Well of Wealth’. But where is it?”

Suddenly, that flock of birds flying overhead awakened Godfrey to the pressing task at hand. His daily work was to till the soil from dawn till dusk, in preparation for the planting season. He knew that if it wasn’t softened and loosened by his plow, then the seed would not take root and those very birds flying overhead would swoop down and eat every single seed. That would spell the end of not just his work, but also his very life.

And not having a crop would spell tragedy for him and his family. And so it seemed like this was his lot in life — to till the soil day after day in the hot sun. But now, Godfrey had the newfound wisdom shared with him by the Wise Guru.

“This does not have to be my lot in life,” he mused. “This WILL NOT be my lot in life!” he said to himself steadfastly.

Godfrey began working with a renewed vigor and diligence with this thought. For now, he was not only plowing the soil in preparation for his crops. He was digging beneath the surface of the earth for that “Well of Wealth” that the Wise Guru talked about.

Now, Godfrey moved and worked with a new sense of destiny and direction. He felt a surging of energy and vigor billowing through his body. His imagination ran wild with wonder and possibility. Simply the awareness that there was something else to dig for than simply plowing the ground became exciting for him. Suddenly he found himself working hard with a renewed sense of purpose.

Day after day he toiled in the hot sun. But somehow his work suddenly took on new meaning. Though his body ached, his mind was clear as all his senses were peaked for some evidence that his garden tool had struck this well of wealth. Godfrey had no idea where he should dig but he dug anyhow. The Wise Guru did not tell him where or how deep. Godfrey noticed this new sense of purpose was changing his entire attitude and view.

And suddenly everything changed because of his new attitude. He no longer plowed the field without a bright vision of the future. His day did not end without a dream of something better. Godfrey had stumbled upon an incredible truth.

His vision of the future was a powerful force that pulled him toward his destiny. Because he had a clear vision of a future filled with the gold and riches of kings and queens, he took giant steps in his search.

He mused to himself, “When the vision of the future was foggy and uncertain I took small, hesitant steps. But look at me now! With my new sense of purpose, I seem to take the steps of a giant!”

But even while taking giant steps Godfrey had no clue about the obstacles and challenges he would face. The number one challenge was knowing just where to dig. Being willing to dig was one thing. But knowing where to dig was the other.

What would happen if he was digging in the wrong place? Then all his hard work would be in vain.

He couldn’t help but ponder, “Why couldn’t the Wise Guru have told me exactly where this well of wealth would be, for then I would know exactly where I should dig and not have to waste so much time and energy digging in the wrong place. There must be some clues that can guide me in my search.”

Godfrey felt certain he had landed upon a key element of his journey by pondering the question, “Where should I dig?”

Realizing he had no clue whatsoever, he promised himself that he would ask the Wise Guru when he stopped by to inquire of his progress. He felt slightly foolish for not asking before, but on that first visit, his mind was so cluttered. He was so awestruck. He just couldn’t think clearly.

As Godfrey looked up at the rows of neatly plowed land he saw the neighboring peasant Rolfe Mannering walking towards him. “What has gotten into you?” Rolfe asked. “I couldn’t help but notice how good and hard you’ve been working lately.

“Has our Lord, Barron Forester promised you more gold this year? Is he offering to build a new home for us peasants? Has he decided to grant us horses to help with the massive load of work?”

Godfrey looked up at his neighbor and couldn’t help but notice for the first time just how dependant on the Lord Barron Forester he was. “Is this how he was too? ” He wondered, “Have I really been living and thinking as if the Lord Barron Forester was the only one who could make a difference in my life? Have I been looking towards Lord Barron Forester for a better home, a horse or even more gold?”

As Godfrey began to recognize and see himself in his neighbor, he saw that waiting for somebody else to help is not the answer. But how ironic to think that the entire peasant community was doing just that. It seems like they forgot the lessons they learned during the Peasants Revolt of 1381. The whole revolt happened because simple, poor, ordinary peasants chose to stand up for themselves.

Godfrey could clearly remember that year. They had succeeded in arresting the attention of the King Richard II. He listened to the problems and made great promises. But in the long run, he kept no promise because he claimed they were made under an illegal revolt. That was the best evidence any peasant could have to let him know that you cannot depend on anybody outside yourself to determine your destiny.

Godfrey’s thoughts were suddenly interrupted by his neighbor Rolfe’s insisting voice. “You should not be digging so deep and thoroughly,” he said. “You’re only wasting precious time. What are you trying to do, prove to Lord Barron Forester that you are a better farmer than everyone else on his land?”

The smell of the evening air and the dim evening light softly awakened Godfrey to the reality that he was really alone in his quest. He had a new awareness when he realized that his neighbors were not only unable to understand his mission, but were also not even willing to learn more about it.

Rolfe and many other neighbors were simply too busy waiting on somebody else to help them. Godfrey realized through his neighbor Rolfe he had been living as if he were unable to help himself. He had chosen to create himself as a slave because he lived completely dependant upon his landowner, Lord Barron Forester.

Knowing where to dig for this “Well of Wealth” had weighed so heavily on Godfrey’s mind that he thought was the most important factor of finding the “Well of Wealth” the Wise Guru talked about. Now as evening settled in there was a new truth that dawned upon him.

There was something far more important than where he should be digging…

The one thing more important than where to dig was, “Who is doing the digging?”

Is it the Godfrey who was typically dependent on others and yet personally powerless? Or is it a strong minded, free thinking, self reliant but coachable Godfrey?

As the evening sun sank beneath the horizon, Godfrey was clear in his new and innovative thought…

He came to believe that  nobody would come to his rescue. He realized that if he would be successful in finding the “Well of Wealth” then he and he alone must search for it himself. Nobody was going to find it for him. Click here to discover your own personal “Well of Wealth” too.