Type A personalities and heart disease

The famous Framingham Massachusetts studies revealed many things about heart disease. They were seminal in changing the way physicians treat people for cholesterol problems. The studies also helped to identify psychological factors that predisposed people to heart disease. Many years before the Framingham study, cardiologists in the 1950s identified the so-called Type A personality. These people were characterized by the way they sat in the waiting room, on the edge of their chairs. This was taken as an index of hostility. These people were found to be particularly prone to developing heart disease. The Framingham study really solidified these ideas in subsequent years.

Therefore, hostility is a health risk. Hostility, as Buddhism teaches us, is a choice. We can learn through awareness practice to choose not to be hostile. We instead can choose to be kind. By this method, we can cure hostility. The only problem is, how do we convince ourselves and each other how important this is? How do we teach ourselves and others the way to cure the hostility that ails us?