Answered by Sayyidi Habib Umar bin Hafiz (may Allah protect him and benefit us by him).
What can we recite to help us to go against our lower selves?
Read the following verse 100 times a day:
هُوَ اللهُ الَّذي لا إِلهَ إِلا هو عَالِمُ الغَيْبِ والشَّهادَةِ هُوَ الرَّحْمَنُ الرَّحِيم
HuwAllahu’lladhi la ilaha illa hu, ‘Alimu’l ghaybi wash-shahadah, Hu arrahmanu’ rahim
He is Allah, there is no deity other than Him, knower of the unseen and the seen, He is the All-Compassionate, the All-Merciful. (Al-Hashr, 59:22)
Also regularly repeat the dua of Imam al-Haddad:
اللَّهُمَّ أَعِنِّي واهْدِني ووَفِّقْنِي لِتَهْذِيب ِأَخْلاقِ نَفْسِي وتَلْطِيفِ كَثَافَتِها ِبِالرِّياضَةِ البَالِغَةِ الماحِقَةِ لِلرُّعُوناتِ النَّفْسِيِّةِ القاهِرَةِ لِلْحُظوظِ الشِّهْوَانِيِّةِ المُزيَّنِةِ بِالحُضورِ الدَّائِمِ مَعَ اللهِ عَزَّ وجَلَّ و وَصْفِ حُسْنِ الأَدَبِ على بِساط ِالذِّلِّةِ والانْكِسارِ والافْتِقَارِ والاضْطِرارِ تَحْقِيقاً لِلْعُبُودِيةِ و وَفَاءً بِحَقِّ الرُّبُوبِيَةِ إِنَّكَ على كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِير.
O Allah, assist me, guide me and enable me to refine the attributes of my lower self. Enable me to lighten its heaviness with great acts of spiritual striving which destroy its lowly tendencies and overcome its base desires.
May these acts be beautified by constant presence with Allah (mighty and glorious) and perfect etiquette with Him in a state of lowliness, brokenness and complete neediness, while attaining true slave-hood and honouring His lordship, for truly You are able to do all things.