If you have recently lost your job and are starting to come out of the initial fog that comes with that experience, then I share Daryn Kagan’s story especially for you.

This former CNN anchor is now running her own media company – www.darynkagan.com – with a special spin: it (she) generates only inspiring stories. While some would like to think the kind of success she’s enjoying comes from simply being practical or having the courage to go out on a limb, in Kagan’s case it also comes from rolling with the feelings of vulnerability brought on by drastic change and embracing life’s magic.

“For everyone who says ‘You’re so brave,’ I say I’d still be sitting in an anchor chair if CNN had renewed my contract,” Kagan said in our recent interview.

But, after 12 years, she was told in January of 2006 that the network decided not to renew her contract that was ending that September. Kagan continued to work there, but began to grieve for the loss of a job that she’d been doing for a quarter of her life.

“I had a few months of sad,” she said. “Outside of work, I was a zombie. I didn’t do a lot. I do recommend the part where you stay in bed and cry and ask, ‘What now?’ I think it’s important. I talk to people all the time now who have done things to improve their life and the world. I guarantee every single one of them had their sad.”

As anyone who has experienced adversity knows, it’s the part that comes next that is the true test of character. Kagan knew she didn’t want another network job, even though she was confident she could have landed at MSNBC or Fox.

“Elimination is an important step,” Kagan said. “Most of my family and friends wanted me to check into a mental institution at that point. But I believe you have to make space for stuff to come in.”

That, it should be noted, is where the braveness came in. Deciding to pursue a career outside of the safe zone of what one knows scares the heck out of most people.

“I didn’t walk out of my boss’s office thinking I’m going to do inspirational news,” Kagan said.

No, but once she started really looking at her skills, resources, desires and beliefs, that is what came to her. She didn’t create a business plan, but calls someone’s suggestion that she create a “belief plan” some of the best advice she’s received. Could she really just work on stories that were positive? She had always considered that the best part of her job.

“I look back and see I was getting ready to do this and I didn’t even know it,” Kagan said of launching her business in the fall of 2006. “I was already doing Your Spirit on my own time [at CNN]. I would interview people who were doing positive things.”

And then there was the seemingly prescient financial piece.

“The last three years of my contract, I had banked about half of it,” she said. “That provided me with a lot of freedom. I had started with a financial planner that said, ‘You’re going to treat this like it’s your last contract.’ You don’t miss it if you don’t have it. She was the first person I went to see [when CNN broke the news]. She said, ‘You’ve been making this and living at this.’ That was so empowering. I had done it for myself.”

That is why her tagline – Show the world what’s possible! – packs such punch. It comes at you in layers. Kagan has put her mark on something unique in news coverage and she is showing the world what’s possible by creating it. The people she chooses to feature on the site share inspiring stories with her audience. She has a community of folks posting their own life-affirming stories.

The focused purpose of Kagan’s content brings to mind what author Seth Godin, in his book Free Prize Inside, calls edgecraft.

“Find an edge and go all the way to it,” Godin writes, recommending it as an alternative to brainstorming. “Going all the way to the edge is the only way to jolt the user into noticing what you’ve done.”

Doing only inspiring stories – or more importantly, declaring that she’s doing only inspiring stories – is Kagan’s edge and it has attracted some attention that she didn’t even seek, resulting in a book called What's Possible! 50 True Stories of People Who Dared To Dream They Could Make a Difference and a regular presence on Oprah Radio (Sirius XM).

“Right now I look brilliant, with the changing of the news business,” Kagan said. “But who could have seen? I feel like someone whispered in my ear, ‘two-year head start.’”

As for the naysayers who wonder if she’s just a squishy Pollyanna, she refers to a term coined by a friend.

“Energy budget,” she said. “Every day you wake up and have a certain amount of energy. I choose not to spend mine on critics.”

‘Choose’ being the operative word.

Nancy Colasurdo is a practicing life coach and freelance writer. Her Web site is www.nancola.com. Please direct all questions/comments to FOXGamePlan@gmail.com.