The most prominent form of energy exchange that we recognise is money. Money is indeed paid to people for the time they give in exchange for it because time is life, is energy and thereby the energy exchange is formed. When barter existed instead of money, it was a clear energy exchange because what one person had given a lot of energy to grow/cultivate/create was exchanged against another item that the other person had given a somewhat similar amount of energy to grow/cultivate/create.

Another less known form of energy exchange is gratitude because when you are grateful, you feel and emit the vibration of owing something in (and thereby a part of) your life to somebody who has given you an energy exchange in whatever form it may be.

The principle of “pay it forward” is the underlying principle of achieving the balance of energy exchanges in the correct way to avoid distortion.

Distortion of energy occurs every time a person takes too much of the pre-existing energy for the sake of himself/herself to the exclusion of others.
In energy exchange through money matters this manifests through the unnecessary accumulation of too much money for the sole use of oneself (or only the close-knit family around oneself) and in energy exchange through gratitude this manifests through the desire to completely attribute to oneself (or one’s close circle only) the recognition owing to a charitable endeavour.
This is why those who give from what they have accumulated to others and those who donate anonymously prosper more and live in true abundance, that of the heart.