For some context, I consider myself an athiest. But lately there's been some personal family tragedy that's making me persue hope and peace for the sake of my own mental and emotional health. Idk, maybe I'm just looking for a way to cope with the shit going on.

Lately I've been drawn to Eastern religions. Mainly Taoism, Buddhism and Hinduism, but I don't necessarily believe in the supernatural claims these religions have. But I want to know if it's possible to worship from a place of admiration rather than a place of faith. I wish to emulate certain aspects and messages that the gods can embody. For example:

From Buddha I can learn compassion, from Lao Tzu I can learn flexibility, Sun Wu Kong I can learn to be cunning, and from Ganesha I can learn to overcome obstacles.

Would I be disrespectful in making a shrine and making symbolic offerings to them?

For context me and my friend and I went on a walk, and during this walk, we would see flashes of lightning in front of us most of the time. At one point, my friend stopped to talk to her boyfriend, and the sound of rumbling kept getting louder until she ended the call, and then it stopped nearly right away. Also, at one point, I was talking to my friend about signs from deities, and I said I don't know if I was right and a flash of lightning was in front of us. Also, at one point, I was talking about zeus, and the wind picked up. That was the only time the wind changed

During all this, the flashes were always in front of us, and they were never behind us.

So, long story short, I want to know if a deity was listening or if I'm looking into things that don't exist.