Sophia Bush was born an old soul. “I was a tiny adult,” she says of her childhood in Los Angeles (her mom and dad were both in the photography business). “I always wanted to save the world. My parents thought it was sweet and that I’d outgrow it—and I never did!”Now the actress and activist, 33, is saving it in all sorts of ways. This month, she’s back for a third season as crime-solving detective Erin Lindsay on the NBC drama Chicago P.D. Off camera, she works with organizations like Pencils of Promise to help children gain access to education, and I Am That Girl, which builds support networks for girls. And she recently partnered with I Smell Great, a beauty line that creates fragrances aimed at inspiring female confidence and uses new technology that makes her “little nerd-heart get excited.”WATCH: Behind the scenes at the Sophia Bush cover shoot  She is also a longtime believer in the impact that healthy habits can have on your life—not just physically but emotionally, too. Over green tea, she opens up to Health about the morning routine that has had a profound effect on her life and shares how anyone can learn to live in the moment.What is different about you now compared with when you were a kid?I don’t think I just trust every single person anymore. I’m really coming into myself. There’s something about 33. You know, it’s one of those sort of sacred years. Thirty was amazing. And 33 is really only getting better. I feel much more rooted. I’ve learned how to listen to my intuition. My heart still feels open and I’m still madly in love with the world, but I understand very quickly how to read a person’s energy and how to better protect my own.RELATED: 10 Secrets of People Who Age GracefullyHow do you keep your intuition strong?I’ve gotten better at slowing down and sticking to my meditation practice. A lot of us seem to be on the same track: We crush it at work and we crush it with our physical health, but we haven’t been attending to that mind-body connection—and that’s the sweet spot. So I’m getting up at 7:30 a.m., I’m meditating for 20 minutes and then I’m going for a two-mile run. It’s only been a couple of weeks, and I feel so different. And I’m not a morning person! My theme of this year is “narrow and deep.” Less stuff, more depth. You just have to try to actively change your habits for one week: Get up 30 minutes earlier. Download the Headspace app and do a 10-minute meditation every day. It’s great.Your Chicago P.D. character, Erin, is a fan favorite because of how badass she is. Was she always that way?I’m never going to pick a role that is a person who I wouldn’t want to hang out with. I want to hang out with an interesting, layered, multifaceted woman who is unapologetic about her strength and her vulnerability.Are you that type of person in real life?Totally. I mean, I’m gushy. But I jump out of airplanes for fun and like to race cars and own three giant pit bulls. So I’m practicing allowing for my femininity more…

Trouble falling asleep? Your before-bed habits may be contributing to your insomnia. Here are four sneaky sleep saboteurs that you should avoid around bedtime if you want a good night’s rest.

This, I believe, is the central question upon which all creative living hinges: Do you have the courage to bring forth the treasures that are hidden within you?Look, I don’t know what’s hidden within you. You yourself may barely know, although I suspect you’ve caught glimpses. I don’t know your capacities, your aspirations, your longings, your secret talents. But surely something wonderful is sheltered inside you. I say this with all confidence, because I happen to believe we are all walking repositories of buried treasure. I believe this is one of the oldest and most generous tricks the universe plays on us human beings, both for its own amusement and for ours: The universe buries strange jewels deep within us all, and then stands back to see if we can find them.RELATED: Find Your Ultimate Happiness The hunt to uncover those jewels—that’s creative living. The courage to go on that hunt in the first place—that’s what separates a mundane existence from a more enchanted one.The often surprising results of that hunt—that’s what I call Big Magic.When I talk about “creative living” here, please understand that I am not necessarily talking about pursuing a life that is professionally or exclusively devoted to the arts. When I refer to “creative living,” I am speaking more broadly. I’m talking about living a life that is driven more strongly by curiosity than by fear.One of the coolest examples of creative living that I’ve seen in recent years, for instance, came from my friend Susan, who took up figure skating when she was 40 years old. To be more precise, she actually already knew how to skate. She had competed in figure skating as a child, but she’d quit the sport during adolescence when it became clear she didn’t have quite enough talent to be a champion.RELATED: 12 Worst Habits For Your Mental Health For the next quarter of a century, Susan did not skate. Then she turned 40. She was restless. She felt drab and heavy. She asked herself when was the last time she’d felt truly light, joyous and—yes—creative in her own skin. To her shock, she realized that the last time she’d experienced such feelings had been as a teenager, back when she was still figure skating. She was appalled to discover that she had denied herself this life-affirming pursuit for so long, and she was curious to see if she still loved it.So she followed her curiosity. She bought a pair of skates, found a rink, hired a coach. She ignored the voice within her that told her she was being self-indulgent and preposterous to do this crazy thing. She tamped down her feelings of extreme self-consciousness at being the only middle-aged woman on the ice, with all those tiny, feathery nine-year-old girls.She just did it.Three mornings a week, Susan awoke before dawn and went skating. And she skated and skated and skated. And yes, she loved it, even more than ever, perhaps, because now, as an adult, she finally had the perspective to appreciate the value of her own joy…