How important has communication been in your experience in polyamorous relationships?
Shitty communication skills are the bane of all relationships. Great communication skills are absolutely essential in carrying on long term, functional, happy and dynamic relationships (poly or otherwise).
What have you learned about communicating with people in general from the challenge of communicating with more than one love at a time?
I always had more than one love, just never had a way to describe it. But, I've learned in my life that more than 75% of the time when people are talking to each other-they are NOT actually communicating the message that they are intending to AND all too often, they never realize it.
Do the more people involved make communication all the more challenging?
If you are a skilled communicator-no. If you suck at communication, it's so challenging to start with that it simply becomes impossible if you add more people. Each individual has their own mental picture of what EACH word means-so when you state a simple sentence, including yourself each person has at least a slightly different picture arise of what you mean. When you complicate that by making it multiple people, and more complicated sentences... well it becomes astronomically more likely that you won't actually get your point across.
Has holding communication in a high place changed the way you feel about communicating with others (and its importance) in general?
Yes absolutely AND it's also changed the way I feel about the absolute NECESSITY for self-introspection on a LARGE and ongoing DAILY schedule.
What are the dangers of keeping something to yourself?
Fucking up your life.
Fucking up someone else's life.
In a relationship (or in life in general) when is it right to keep something to yourself and when does it become dishonest?
That completely depends on your outlook. Different people have different opinions. Off the top of my head with little contemplation I'd say that if there is ANY possibility that the information COULD impact the other person-you owe it to yourself and them to share it.