Positionally Stumped

Hi everyone! Long time lurker, first time poster.

Sometimes I find myself in a position where I just don't know what to do anymore. No plan presents itself; I'm stumped. I usually just make a waiting move and my opponent's next move or 2 clarifies things. Later I record those positions in my spiral notebook and analyze them.

Here's a position where I (W) wasn't sure what to do. Can anyone suggests moves or plans for this position? 

As you can see, I'm a pawn up with pressure on the e-pawn. I'm a position player and love developing a positional squeeze, but sometimes fail at finding the "coup de grace." My feeling during the game was that it would be a shame to push any pawns, as B would suddenly have lots of counterplay. This is a common thought and a common type of position for me. Usually I wait for the opponent to get impatient and mess up, and he usually does, but I can't help but think there must be some more active way to deal with things.

It is not easy. Maybe this is a decent,but slow plan plan: PLay Be3, Kh1(Stopping the threat Bxf4), Bf2. The bishop is still blocked, but it is slightly better here because it is defending your king when you are gonna break open teh centre(securing the diagonal g1-a7) and now there are two basic plans: play Re2 and Re1 with doubling the rooks or play Rad1 with the idea of playing d5.

Nvm about plans. Now looking at the position after Kh1 black has the hreat Be8 and Bc6 so this won't work for White. In fact if he can get his bishop somehow to the diagonal h1 a8 without loosing e6 White can be in serious trouble. I don't know maybe Be3 and then directly Rd1 is an idea or as the above poster mentions to go for a c4 break.

Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts, guys. I checked with Fritz and it liked the Rd1..d5 plan, while Chessmaster seemed to think h3..g4 was a good idea. Neither of which I like much, but then, I guess one has to do something.

Maybe the real lesson from this position is the principle: "Sometimes you'll get into positions where you feel you have some advantage, but there's no clear way forward. Now you know. Think further ahead; avoid them."

(If you're curious, in the actual game I ended up giving up the F pawn for activity--a line Realitymate mentions above--and later won due to a blunder on Black's part.)

Cheers.

My thought here is to load up against e6, and see how strained Black's piece placement becomes as he defends both e6 and b5. With the R/g6 not well-placed for defence, Black may be unable to cover everything.

However, as mentioned earlier, White must first work on his kingside weakness and the bad bishop.

You're right, man. Even after I managed to double on the e-file and finish development, there was nothing to do, so I sac'd the f-pawn and ended up winning by luck. The real lesson for me is to be very careful that, in addition to having some positional squeeze, have some second front to open.

Thanks everyone for you posts!